Deviant Direction
by Lockrhythm
Summary: You know Maxwell Lord as the antagonist in Supergirl's story. But let's rewind to the beginning of season one and see Maxwell discover the teenage son he never knew about. What does this new moral compass change for Max? What does it change for Supergirl? How about for Kara Danvers?
1. After 1x05 How Does She Do It

**Chapter 1: After 1x05 How Does She Do It?**

What if Maxwell Lord had a teenage son he did not know about? How does an outside moral compass change his own actions and his interactions with Supergirl? Starts after 1x05 and continues through season 1.

Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl or any characters from the franchise.

* * *

Max stared at them. He was waiting for them to say it was some big joke, but at the same time he knew they wouldn't. In his gut he just _knew_. "Can—" It came out hoarse. He tried again. "Can I see my son?"

"Of course," the officers said. "He's outside."

They showed him to the same thin teenage boy he had dismissed on the way in. Slouched in the plastic chair, hands thrust into a black faux leather jacket, the brunette hair with frost blonde tips were slicked up and to the side in a kind of wave. A thin silver chain belt hung loose off his hips and his skinny black jeans were tucked into combat boots. He looked like a teenage punk but without all the makeup and piercings.

Maxwell hoped there weren't tattoos under the tight black shirt. And as he drew closer his nose could pick up the faint scent of alcohol.

"Jason," The officer said kindly.

The boy looked up from the top of his boots. Max almost gasped aloud: _his_ facial features were imprinted on this boy from the sharp brows to the present-but-not-too-much cheekbones. The boy, his _son's_ face structure was more angled and long however, and though grief lurked in the depths of those same steel blue eyes, so did clarity.

He said nothing, but took in Max, eyes going up and down and judging. He returned to the officer.

"This is your father, Jason."

Max cleared his throat and stepped forward, hand out. Was he supposed to handshake the son he never knew? It seemed so impersonal, but a hug felt too much for a first meeting. "Hello. I'm Maxwell Lord."

"I know who you are." Jason unfolded his long legs and stood, hands still in his jacket. "Are we going now?"

Max tried not to feel hurt. Jason had just lost his mother; of course he might be a bit terse. "Of course. Let's go home."

The drive was silent, Jason staring out the passenger side window, his face turned mostly away. It was unnerving how still and quiet the boy was. Teenagers were supposed to be rebellious, loud, energetic.

"I'm not sure what they've told you," Max began. "But you don't have to call me dad. Max is fine. Whatever you feel comfortable with. And you don't have to change your name if you don't—"

"I want to," Jason interrupted, still looking outside. "Not really a fan of my last name. Lord is cooler."

A flutter of pleasure quickly burst in Max's gut and then dimmed. His son wanted his name! Even if it was just for the _coolness_ of it. It still made him feel good, like there was a chance of this working out.

Jason's eyes were riveted on the tall penthouse when they pulled into the drive. Max glowed.

"Do you like it?"

"Big place," Jason commented in the same dead tone that he seemed to be stuck on. His eyes told a different story, flicking quickly over the exterior several times and taking in details, particularly noting the valet and bellhop.

"You can pick any room in the house you like."

"Alright."

Max toured him through the penthouse, the four bedrooms (one was the master bedroom), the entertainment room and sunroom and kitchen and study, and stopped again in the foyer. Jason had only responded with monosyllables the whole time. "So which room did you like?"

"The last room we saw."

Max knew the one. It had a four poster bed and a large window offcenterly overlooking the building's front entrance with a seat on the sill. Max's own bedroom was down the hall at the other front corner. "It's yours." Now that that was taken care of, he was at a loss what to do next. "Do you want time to settle in? Dinner is at seven."

Jason shrugged. "Okay."

They stared at each other. Well, Max gazed while Jason looked at nothing in particular.

"Alright. I'll be in my study if you need me."

Jason nodded.

* * *

When Max told the chef two for dinner, the assumption was clearly that Max had a guest over and not a teenage boy because she had clearly gone for a feast. There was escargot as an appetizer, duck breast in brandy sauce with truffles and mushrooms as the main course, and a zabaione each for dessert. Served with wine.

He was about to ask for something else for Jason when the boy tossed the entire glass back while sitting at his end of the table.

"Should you be drinking," Max asked in concern.

"My guardian provided it, so it's legal."

With misgivings, Max refilled the glass. This one, Jason sipped at.

Jason ate everything that was put in front of him with the same listless indifference. Luckily the dishes were European portioned so they were small and the fifteen year old did not have to suffer through anything he didn't like.

"How was your day," Max asked and then cringed. Jason didn't even grant that a look up. "I think it's a good idea if you had my phone number," he quickly changed topic.

"Don't have a phone."

Again, Max was taken aback. He was pretty sure at that age teenagers were glued to their devices. "Well that'll be remedied. Do you need anything else? Laptop? Clothes?" He stopped. He might as well get Jason a new wardrobe. Hopefully he'd wear something besides those black leathers. "Why don't I take care of all of that and you can tell me if you need anything else?"

Jason shrugged. They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"What did you do this afternoon?"

Another shrug. "Your library."

"Really? Did you find anything you like?" There weren't any lower level books; all of them were theories and papers and books about higher level science and engineering subjects.

"You have a lot of engineering books," he said redundantly.

* * *

Jason dressed in the same clothes as the day before; they hadn't gone back to his apartment to pick up more. The clock proclaimed 9:38am. He slipped to the dining room for breakfast.

Maxwell was at the glass dining table working with some large blueprint papers when Jason walked in.

"Good morning, Jason. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes."

The chef brought out breakfast. A more reasonable eggs and toast with orange juice.

"This is yours. I've already put my number in it. You can put a password on if you want, and I've set it so you can see my location in case you ever need or want to know where I am."

Jason picked up the phone and turned it over. LordTech.

"Here's some spending cash, and this credit card is connected to my accounts. I've had the laptop and clothes put in your room. If you need any help, please feel free to ask." Jason nodded. "And I was thinking we could go out for a bit after lunch. Walk around. Get to know each other." Jason nodded and finished the last of his breakfast. He sat back and waited for Max to finish.

Max was clearly hoping for more but didn't push it. "Just leave the plate if you're done. Lunch is at one today."

Jason went up to his room and opened the powerful LordTech laptop. He immediately started looking more in-depth into Maxwell Lord's history and—through the company servers—his work.

It was how he found another user accessing LordTech files. The user was shadowy but skilled and kept mostly to standard technique; a government agency, probably. One that did a great job covering its tracks and was found solely because Jason was looking for inconsistencies and problems in the high-security servers. The agency only managed past the first two levels of LordTech's security—enough to access and monitor who scanned in and out of the building and when. It also searched through the files on a consistent timetable—a program someone left running in the hopes it would pick up something good; it also meant he could always get into this super secret organization as long as this program was left up.

He grinned and set a Trojan hidden into the system with a worm of his creation he liked to call Endeavor. Hopefully he'd learn more about this shady user soon.

* * *

So this is my first publishing. There wasn't enough Maxwell Lord fics for my tastes so I wrote one myself. _Deviant Direction_ obviously starts when Max is already at the police station after he was told he had a son he never met and he has sole custody after Jason's mother died. There will be more background on that in this story and in a vignette collection that will be posted later.

_Deviant Direction_ parallels the season episodes until about episode 12, Bizzaro, where it then deviates and becomes more storylike.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Interludes 1

**Ch. 2: Interludes 1**

In which life continues, the DEO meets a mysterious benefactor, Jason shows his inherited genius, and a birthday is celebrated.

* * *

Max drove Jason to school the next Monday, three days after they had begun to live together. The community high school was not as well kept as those closer to the center of the commercial district. The building was faded brick, fenced in, and built like a penitentiary. Teenagers dressed in casual hoodies and ripped jeans were milling around, taking, shoving each other and roughhousing.

"Enjoy today," Max offered. "I'll be back at three to pick you up."

"Four," Jason corrected dully, already half out the car.

"Four then."

The door closed. Max exhaled. He didn't think it would be so harrowing simply driving _his son _to school and letting him go when Max had just gotten him.

He set five alarms to remind himself to pick Jason up and still arrived early. The school grounds were practically empty; only a few small groups of kids leaning against the outside of the fence remained.

Max spied Jason at the corner of the block with some other punk-dressed teens. Jason spied his car and began walking around the corner, out of sight of the school. Max had his driver follow.

Jason waited halfway down the street and got in the car.

"How was your day?"

"Fine."

Silence.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Sure."

Silence.

"You turned away from the school."

"You're rich. They're not."

Oh. Max understood. Suddenly coming into wealth made Jason a target for teasing, supplications for money, favors, and stuff.

* * *

"I need eyes inside that building! Someone get me the cameras!"

The larger display screens all flicked to the appropriate feeds. Hank's anger abated abruptly. "Good work. Now let's see what we're dealing with."

"Sir, that wasn't us," a technician said. "We're locked out!"

Lines of pink text scrolled across a currently unused screen. "_Hello. You may call me Labyrinth. I will be helping you today," _a robotic voice read out, both male and female voices overlayed to sound androgynous.

"Who are you," Hank growled.

_"__I hacked your systems months ago. You never needed my skills until now, so I remained silent, watching, waiting." _The screens all flicked to track their runaway alien. _"I am good at what I do."_

"We'll deal with this later. Apprehend the target!"

The cameras flicked again, half of them following the squad and the other half the alien.

_"__Do you have an antidote prepared for anyone that inhales its gas?"_

"What?"

_"__Please do your research. This alien has attacked six times before and all its victims have died of an inhaled substance that melts them from the inside out. There's nothing left, which is why it took you so long to discover it."_

Alex cursed.

_"__I'll walk you through creating a compound,"_ Labyrinth said.

The compound worked, there were no casualties, the alien was apprehended. Labyrinth had gone quiet during the hour and a half when Alex and the medical team had to speed to the location and bring them the antidote.

"I'd appreciate it if you would release my systems," Hank directed at the screen. There was no response. "Labyrinth!"

There was a short pause. _"Apologies. I _do_ have better things to do than babysit an extra-legal organization. Real life had called and you seemed to have things under control. Do speak up if you need further assistance."_ The screens returned to their normal DEO standard.

* * *

Jason perked up when he found a drone recording on LordTech's hidden private servers. The drone was flying in the air, above the city. He watched, riveted, as the drone followed Supergirl, did measurements and recordings and gave itself away. The tech was brilliant, managing to keep ahead of Supergirl's speed and dodging her attempts to grab it. She had to resort to blowing it up to stop it, and that was when the feed fizzled and went black.

Jason smiled and pulled the video off the server and onto his own laptop.

* * *

"So it's your birthday this weekend." Max actually only knew that because he had read the medical records the night before. "Sixteen years old. Is there anything in particular you would like?" He wasn't really expecting an answer. In the month Jason had been here, he had not asked for anything, not spent any money on the credit card, not expressed a like or dislike from food to clothes (though he continued to wear the black punk-type clothes he retrieved from his apartment instead of the nicer and more appropriate dress shirts Max had filled his closet with).

"The rent on my mom's apartment ends next week. I want to continue it."

Max startled, not even considering saying no. It was the first thing Jason'd ever asked for, and Max would do it. Even if it meant buying the entire building. "I can do that. Anything else?"

Jason shrugged. It looked like they were back to nothing again.

Max still resolved to make the day special.

* * *

Thank you for still reading! Nothing plotty happens in this chapter. Sorry about that. Next one will have much plot.

-Locks


	3. 1x07 Human for a Day

**1x07 Human for a Day**

* * *

Max gripped the steel worktable when the building shook. Power went out only to be instantly replaced by the emergency blue lights inside the labs and red lights in the halls outside.

It surprised him that it did not surprise him that his first thought was not for his research or buildings or workers but for Jason. He was dialling before he even realized what he was doing.

For eleven heartstopping rings, no one answered. Then, just as the 'leave a message' message was about to begin, the phone picked up.

"Jason! Are you alright? Where are you? I'm coming to get you." Max was already gathering his things.

"I'm alright," the teenager said back, sounding more even and in control than Max would have expected. "I'm at the mall."

Max sighed, relieved Jason was safe, but resigned to the fact he had blown off school again. "We're going to have a talk about school at some point. I'm coming."

"I'm fine, Dad. You do whatever you need to." Jason hung up before Max could say anything. Shock and pleasure ran through his system at the sixteen year old finally calling him _dad._

Max shook himself off and breathed. Jason was safe. The public was still panicking. People needed help. And helping people and making a difference was what Maxwell Lord did best.

* * *

Someone knocked. Max looked up from the reports of his company's projects. "Jason!"

The wiry boy carried a skateboard under his arm and his school backpack was still on. Where did Jason even learn to skate?

"What's going on?"

"Once I confirm none of the projects have been affected, I'm going to address the people of this city. They need guidance right now."

Jason picked up the barely-started handwritten script. "I know you diss Supergirl, but if you want the people to see you for the good you do, why don't you give them something to hold onto instead?"

Max couldn't help but regard his son in a new light. Five months and an emergency, and suddenly Jason was interacting with the world in more than short sentences. Give him something to focus on, the psychologist had suggested Max to do, and it seemed Jason had found something for himself. "What do you mean?"

Jason shrugged. "This is so negative. When Supergirl comes back, she brings hope. So bring hope back before her. You're more in the community than she is; she just does bigger things. So help with reconstruction and make noise about it. Soon the city will see just how much she strains taxpayer dollars."

Max considered it. He picked up the pen and scratched out some words, making changes. "It's not going to matter if we can't get on the air." He glared at his techs trying to deal with the camera. Honestly, the stupidity of the masses!

Jason dropped his bag and board and moved one of the engineers over, disregarding the instruction manual they were looking at, and taking the wires and connecting them like he knew what he was doing. He plopped down at the base of the tripod and pulled out his laptop. "Now all of the tv stations are down, so we're going regular broadband on the old emergency broadcast system."

The technicians looked at Max. He gestured them out with a jerk of his head. Jason still typed. "This isn't exactly _legal_, but I'm going to have to take control of the airwaves of National City for a bit."

Max stared at the change that came over Jason as the teen tapped at the keys. "When you said school bores you, you meant school _bores you_. Why didn't you say anything?"

Jason's fingers stilled. He did not look up. "Once you start achieving high standards, everyone expects greater and greater things from you. I just wanted to do my own thing, beholden to no one."

"Jason, you're my son. I'll do anything for you, even if it means pulling you out and homeschooling you myself. We can learn whatever you want at _your_ pace."

Jason hit a few more keystrokes and didn't respond. "I'm in. Start when you're ready." He gestured for Max to start.

Max gave his speech to Jason, looking right at him and meaning every word about getting through it and banding together. Jason nodded when it was over and continued tapping at the computer. "We'll just take some images of the disaster and put it in the background, add some smoke and fires out of focus, bit of a sheen of sweat and grime to show you're out among the masses, and we're done!" Jason looked to the lone tv in Max's office and played the video.

Max gaped. He still looked put-together on tv, but also like he had been working with the people in the ruins of a building. He was sweating as one of them, outside as one of them, _being_ one of them.

"The media is my playground," Jason said smugly. "You're going to get a lot of brownie points for this. All you need is for real news feeds to cover you out there and helping the city. I suggest blankets, water, and protein bars."

* * *

Plotty Stuff!

Next chapter will have more of the DEO and a little bit of Kara. Promise.


	4. Before 1x08 Hostile Takeover

**Before 1x08 Hostile Takeover**

More of the mysterious hacker, Labyrinth, and what he gets into between episodes. This is highly Labyrinth-centric, and as an apology, this update is a double-post.

* * *

Everything was normal at the DEO. Quiet, normal, monitoring things. Nothing seeming wrong.

The screens glitched. Techs tensed and looked, but returned to their relaxing when nothing further happened. The lights flickered and main power went down. Emergency red lights flooded the area. "There's someone in your systems," the now-familiar voice of Labyrinth said, crackling with bad static and their usual pink text conspicuously absent from the screens. "They're trying to breach defenses. I've kept the cells closed and emergency backup on, but I'm not tapped in directly; I'm limited to what I can do from out here."

"How do we know it's not you," Hank asked.

"I'm the one who _warned _you, idiots!" The speaker sparked. Labyrinth cursed. The screens came on, showing a person in a black hood with a hardshell grey mask covering their features. There was one eyehole covered with a reflective material that reflected lines of white code scrolled across a black screen into the webcam; the other side was featureless.* The person was clearly typing rapidly while facing the computer webcam, and irritation and tension radiated from their form. The image was not smooth, tearing and freezing constantly. "What a way to meet," they said, still sounding androgynous. "I'm Labyrinth." There was another spark at their hands, barely caught by the bottom of the camera feed. They hissed in pain but kept typing. "Whoever is doing this, they're doing a bang up job. They've almost locked me out. I can get you their location, but I'll be shut out until you can either shut them down or bring me to base so I can tap in directly."

"Understood." Hank turned to the agents. "Prep a go team."

Labyrinth hissed as the sparks grew more frequent and intense. "Man they're good. Turning the machine against me? I've got to remember that. I hope one of you has a camera out: I'll only be able to flash the two coordinates for a second before I'm cut, but I did place a temporary safeguard around your cells using some of my pre-constructed programs. Bottom one's me." The two longitudinal codes flickered across the screen.

Then everything went eerily dark.

Hank started shouting at the teams: one to retrieve Labyrinth and the other to tackle the hostile.

* * *

Labyrinth whistled through the mask as the bag was pulled off their head. (Inside, the hacker was watching their location coordinates and a lot more information on every person that crossed their sight via the built-in HUD on the half of the mask that was covered solid.) "Bit dull, isn't it? Underground, no light. If a cave-in happened, you'd all be stuck. Whatever; not my base." They clapped their hands together. Alex took note of the wince. "Take me to the server room!"

Suddenly not as irritated but much more curious about the male—for the hacker had a clearly flat chest and no curves—instead, she jerked her head down the hall. "This way."

Labyrinth stuck his hands into his brown cowboy-outlaw-esque leather jacket. He craned his neck around, taking in the sights with eyes instead of cameras. Alex held open the door for him.

Labyrinth inclined his head, reading a small portion of the dossier that appeared on the mask's interior HUD when he focused upon her. "Thank you, Agent Danvers."

She jerked. "How do you know my name?"

"I know everything about everyone here, sister of Kara Zor-El." Labyrinth smiled reassuringly under his mask; it conveyed well through body posture. "If I wanted the world to know, I would have released the information ages ago."

Alex breathed deeply to calm herself and nodded. "So what am I supposed to call you?"

"Labyrinth. It is as much a real name to me as any."

"Don't you have people who will worry?"

"I told them I was on a camping trip. It will cover the three days I might need to bring your systems back online." Alex caught Labyrinth's still movements as he withdrew a USB from his belt pouch and inserted it into one of the dark server units with more shoulder weight than the necessary hand and elbow movement usually required. "Can you get me a laptop? Your people wouldn't let me bring mine."

Alex provided one already on the DEO network and watched as he plugged it into the server with stiff fingers. He couldn't seem to grab the cable heads properly. She grabbed his arm and narrowed her eyes when the hacker stifled a noise.

"You're injured."

"It's kind of what happens when your keyboard pours several volts of electricity through while you're using it," Labyrinth snapped.

"You need your fingers to work."

He ripped his wrist out of her grip. "I said I'd get it done."

"I'm not saying you won't, but we can at least treat you. As payment for your help, if nothing else."

Labyrinth hesitated, but nodded finally. It would let him work. It would get him out of here faster. He had already applied medicinal creams and ointments, and his gloves provided compression, but a trained medical professional was always good.

After he had added his signature security program, Labyrinth, after which he took his codename, he had the DEO drop him off at the same warehouse they picked him up. He slid open the large steel cargo door just enough to slide in and closed it behind him, engulfing the windowless interior in shadow.

His mask still provided outlines in blue of everything present in the room to the rudimentary HUD built into the eyeless half of the mask. The two images, though different, were of the same thing and provided the normal sterovision of seeing normally; just with the added effects that machines and technology could provide, as evidenced by his current design-architectural night vision.

He got out the spare first aid kit he had stashed and slid his gloves off stiff fingers. The gloves were charred and torn through; he would need new ones. His hands were not much better. The DEO had provided the ointments and bandages and painkillers, and like an idiot he had allowed Agent Danvers to patch him up. Now he had to worry about them having a file on him and running his blood for DNA matches and finding his identity. More work, in essence, to keep himself hidden. He twitched his fingers as if to clench them and bit back a hiss as it stretched and irritated his burns.

Mostly second degree, which was still really bad. Some spots of third degree, but not enough to leave noticeable scarring when it finally healed in the next weeks. Not unless someone was specifically looking for it anyway.

He would need someone to redress his wounds. Not the agent; she would look to get information from him and make him slip and talk in his weakness. Supergirl, then. Kara Danvers. He could talk her through rudimentary care. He didn't need much more than reapplication of medicine and rewrapping.

He'd just wear gloves around the house, and if asked, he'd say it was the cold. It _was_ November after all.

* * *

Labyrinth slowly approached Kara Danvers' apartment door. He kicked the door lightly as his knock. After a moment, the door opened and Kara's wide eyes behind framed glasses took him in.

"I was in the DEO's servers," Labyrinth shrugged. "Please, I- I need help."

She let him in, making sure the door was closed before turning. The computer programmer used his teeth to pull off the gloves.

She gasped. "You need a hospital!"

"No! No hospital. I can walk you through treatment; I just can't do it myself right now."

"Are, are you sure?"

He nodded. "We need a bowl of cool water and some rags. I brought bandage wraps, ointments, and creams." He breathed easier as the sores were cleaned and the healing cream coolly soothed the heated skin.

"Do you want painkillers?"

Labyrinth opened his eyes, startled to realize he had dozed under her ministrations. Thankfully he wore a mask. "No, thank you." He gathered his things with stiff, bandaged fingers. Kara quickly took over and packed them into his satchel for him.

"Thank you." He collected his gloves and tugged them on slowly.

"You're more than welcome back if you need help," Kara said just before she closed the door behind him.

Labyrinth nodded in surprise. "Thank you," he said again, more gratefully. "I might take you up on that."

* * *

Yeah so I realized after rereading this that I hadn't written an official "Supergirl meets Labyrinth" piece. So just assume they met during one of Lab's assists and I'll write one up and stick it in the vignettes companion fic eventually.

Not sure if it's obvious who Labyrinth is. Just stay with me; it will all become clear.

*For Labyrinth's mask, just imagine Deathstroke's mask but full metallic silver and with no eyehole on the black side. I would add a link to the image I took the inspiration from, but ffn doesn't let me do links.


	5. 1x09 Blood Bonds

**1x09 Blood Bonds**

We find out in a later episode that the break in (episodes 9 and 10) occurred around Christmas. I admittedly did not show that very well even though I had originally planned to use that plot point when I was writing.

If you're following the updates, this was a double. Ch4 is new also.

* * *

Max had brought Jason to the office to see the labs and clear some space to encourage and cultivate Jason's innovation, completely hands off: if Jason wanted, Max would step away and leave him to his own work and privacy. They were still there trading ideas in their personal labs when the silent alarms notified them of a breach. Max whipped out his phone to his private feeds of the security cameras. Kryptonians.

"Stay here," he ordered, already going out the door.

"But-"

"Stay!"

He successfully killed one, mainly through surprise, but damn they were fast. Terror flooded him when the leader of the small group choked him. He couldn't die yet! He had so much to live for! Jason still needed him.

He was reluctantly grateful when the DEO arrived.

They fought off the aliens, but he stopped them from going up to the second floor (and his offices where Jason was). He would not compromise Jason's safety.

He should have expected when one James Olsen, friend of Superman and now (he suspected, anyway) friend of Supergirl, arrived at his lab to take photos. "I don't permit cameras around my research facilities," he called out. Too much risk of paparazzi getting a shot of Jason, not to mention the potential for corporate espionage that he claimed the attack was.

He internally panicked (and made a bad decision; hindsight was 20/20) when Jimmy Olsen broke into his laboratories and made it dangerously far into his compound. He was just grateful Jason was back at the penthouse when that happened. A reporter with the smell of a story would never let go of the mystery of Maxwell Lord's son. He needed fear put into him.

Max didn't notice when Jason secluded himself in the lab for days after that, too engrossed with scaring Olsen away and upgrading security further.

* * *

Kara's phone rang once she had gotten some control of herself and left Jimmy and Winn. She took a deep breath to steady her voice and answered. "Kara Danvers."

"_I couldn't help but overhear,"_ Labyrinth said quietly.

Kara went still. "Labyrinth. This isn't really a good time."

"_You need it. A steady voice. Someone to talk to. What Maxwell Lord did yesterday was wrong, but he's just scared and masking it the best way he knows how, in a way that helps the ordinary person."_

Kara laughed hysterically. "What does Maxwell Lord have to be afraid of?"

"_Losing the only other person in his life that he cares for. There is much more to Maxwell Lord than just a grudge against the government. The way he goes about it could be better, yes, I agree, but we aren't talking about him. It's you that needs comfort right now. When I had access to the DEO that once, I was able to access your pod. It's not much, but it's something. Whatever else, Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, your mother loved you."_ The end call dial tone spun out, and Kara looked down at it just in time for a new message notification to appear. She clicked on it. From her spaceship pod's point of view was a video of a young her saying goodbye on Krypton, the love in her mother and father's eyes blatant and palpable, even through the inferior screen. Her eyes teared up again.

* * *

The second part of the chapter takes place immediately after Jimmy, Winn, and Kara all meet up in their super secret headquarters in CatCo and talk about Jimmy's kidnapping and what a bad guy Maxwell Lord is.

Don't expect double chapters every time. This chap was so short.


	6. 1x10 Childish Things

**1x10 Childish Things**

Slight warning for a single f-bomb casually used.

* * *

As soon as Alex hung up, Max called his son. "Jason?"

"Hmm?" Max smiled. The boy was probably deep in the rabbit hole of creating something. He knew he did it as well, though he'd trained himself out of it in recent years.

"I have a date tonight. Will you be fine on your own?"

"Yeah sure, Dad." There was a brief pause and Max could _see_ Jason's brain rebooting. "Wait, a _date_? With who? Are you sure she's not a golddigger? What kind of strange impulse prompted you to such a thing?"

"Her name is Alex Danvers. She intrigues me."

Jason was clearly still skeptical. "I expect a full report afterwards. You best be home by midnight."

"Yes, Mr. Lord," Max agreed with humor. He softened his voice. "I will be careful, Jason. You won't lose me."

"I'll hold you to that, Mr. Lord," Jason responded just as softly.

* * *

Jason looked up from his programming of the nanotech armor he was creating when a soft beeping sounded in the earpiece he wore. A flick of his eyes up brought small holograms wrapping around like a semi-translucent high tech visor to see the security feeds.

He frowned in concern. The date wouldn't have ended that quickly. He checked his phone to see his father's location; yup, still at the restaurant. That meant an impostor and probably alien.

Jason alerted security; they would be too late. He couldn't do anything to stop the intruder. Not as is. Ah, fuck it; he'd gas the whole hallway.

A flick of the commands and his program released the odorless, colorless knockout gas hidden in the vents. He just closed some of the grilles and guided it to the targeted hallway…

The Maxwell doppelganger still got into the room, knocked out the security guard, and did something to said guard, but he didn't get any pictures, thankfully.

Jason's attention was grabbed by one of his programs suggesting a possible alert outside Kara Danvers' apartment. He rewatched the kidnapping and cursed. Why did he have to take it upon himself to save the whole world?

He called her and tapped the voice modulator set on the inside of his black turtleneck against his skin. Labyrinth's voice carried into the bluetooth earpiece. "Winn Schott Jr. was just kidnapped by Winslow Schott Sr. When I tell you to, call his phone so I can track him. If we time this right, we can clear Schott the younger's name." He could clearly hear her inhale.

"Alright. We'll do it your way. But if _anything_ happens to Winn—"

"You'll hunt me down, I'm sure. Might be harder than you think." Jason pulled out his dedicated hacking laptop and opened the screens. "Don't worry; I've come to like what I've seen of Winn Schott myself."

He and she waited, her more tense than he as he watched Winslow through CCTV.

"What's taking so long," Kara asked.

"They're still on the move and Winn's unconscious. I need them monologuing in order to record enough data to clear Winn's name." His visor feeds allowed him to see Max arriving back at the labs. "Some other business just came up. I'll keep watching. You get some sleep if you can and I'll call you back."

"No, I'm staying right here. I'll go after him myself."

"Do that and the authorities will believe he was in league with his father despite anything you could say. Just trust me. Have I ever led you wrong before?" He muted the channel to her grumbling and deactivated the holograms and closed his laptop. He slid to the door and caught the tail end of the doctor's words, eyes hardening, hate beginning to grow for the alien that ruined the security guard's life. Now he could see why his father disliked extraterrestrials with a passion.

"We need to talk," he interrupted.

"Not now."

"It's about this."

Max paused in the middle of typing in his code. He jerked his head at his assistant and the doctor. Jason closed the door behind them.

"You promised you'd never lie to me."

"I won't," Max promised, attention focused on Jason despite clearly itching to get back to his mystery.

"But you never said you'd not keep secrets. And I never promised the same either. I'm a hacker and I've been in LordTech's servers for months. Camera feeds, product details, all of it. I saw this happen from my lab and set off some of the non-lethal security measures. That's why the impostor left so quickly. Knockout gas. I know the woman you went out with is a federal agent; she must have wanted to get you out of the building. Dad, what happened with Agent Danvers?"

Maxwell Lord smiled. "You always were cleverer than you let on. The Department of Extra-Normal Operations is an extralegal organization that deals with alien threats."

"But they don't see Supergirl as one," Jason deducted. "They support her."

Max nodded, gesturing to the screen that showed the backup security feeds. "They don't see what a threat they are!"

"Yes, you've gone on about that several times already. How did you get involved with DENO?"

"The DEO, and they needed a genius," Max smugly informed him.

Jason rolled his eyes. "And Code Phoenix?"

Max turned to face the woman on the bed. "She is going to show the world that Supergirl is not the hero they make her to be."

"Why are you spending all of that time and effort to discredit Supergirl? With all of this at your fingertips, you might as well have this version be a better superhero outfitted with Lord tech and the time to always be around for the city. Supergirl's secret identity seems to have a day job or something." He meant it as a joke, but he groaned when he saw Max actually considering it. "Dad, don't. I get you have this giant grudge against the government, and after tonight I agree the aliens are a danger, but this isn't the way to do it."

"Then what do you suggest I do? She makes us complacent! Unable to help ourselves! We can't defend against their abilities!"

Jason shook his head again. "Ruining her reputation with a doppelgänger you made is not going to fix that. And neither will creating a superhero to take the spotlight," he added quickly. "Just… remind the people that humans can do amazing things too. We don't all need to have powers to be a hero."

* * *

This is one of my favorite chapters of the fic and where the seeds for canon divergence begins. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.


	7. Before 1x11 Visitor from Another World

**Before 1x11 Visitor from Another World**

Okay, it was brought to my attention that the paragraph in Ch1 about Jason digging in LordTech's servers right after he got his laptop was confusing and somewhat contradicting the last chapter. So I rushed through this short chap to say I updated that Ch1 paragraph to be hopefully more clear. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy another double-posting.

Jason's burns from chapter 4 are healed.

* * *

Jason eased the gloves off and stretched his fingers, feeling the taut skin pull painlessly. His burns were healed; the discoloration was negligible (compared to what it _could_ be anyway), and the scarring was just tight skin without much texture, thankfully. He'd still need to wear gloves, however, and the winter months were ending; there would be no reason to wear such coverings.

Well, he'll just say it was a phase or something, and Max'd probably drop it. It was fine. He'd make it work.


	8. 1x12 Bizzaro Part 1

**1x12 Bizzaro (Part 1)**

I am so sorry it has been so long since I updated. Things have been really hectic rn. This episode chapter will be at least two parts.

* * *

Max looked up when the door to the biometrically locked room opened. Jason frowned at him. "You're still going on with this hairbrained scheme?"

"Am I supposed to let this planet be taken over by aliens?"

Jason opened up his laptop to some white and red designs. "If you insist on doing this, at least do it my way."

Max scanned the files. The bodice of the long sleeve costume was white with gold accents and a small cleavage-displaying cutout. Red leggings, red belt, and a red cape over one shoulder added a pop of color to make her eye catching. Gold boots and gloves finished off the ensemble.

"Another superhero to help the city, this one with all the backup Lord Technologies is capable of on the D.L. She'll be there when Supergirl isn't, and with training on top of brute force, she will be able to contend with even the pureblooded Kryptonians."

Max was reluctant to let go of his vision, but Jason wanted it—wanted to make Max a better person. He exhaled once, twice. "All this. Good work."

Jason smiled. "You're welcome. You have good in you; you just need someone to remind you of it." He switched screens. "Dad, meet Karen Starr Zor-L. Stands for Lord; I thought you'd like it. Or as she will be known to the greater public, Power Girl."

* * *

Kara stared open-mouthed at the news screen. The white and red costumed superhero who looked so much like her but with a bob cut like Alex's had just saved an oil tanker from careening off the interstate. The superhero looked highly athletic and slender but with healthy _assets_ and held herself with confidence, straight-backed, mature but not overbearing or arrogant. She landed softly in front of the news crews, playing to the audience. They immediately started shouting questions at her, but she held up a single hand and they quieted.

"I'll answer a few questions," the woman said, speaking clearly and with authority, but she also gave off an approachable vibe. "Yes, you?"

"Who are you? Any relation to Supergirl?"

"I am Power Girl. I've seen photos and reports of Supergirl and the coat of the House of El she wears; you could call us cousins." She answered another question. "Yes, I will continue to assist around the city. I am here for the people."

Across the city, two people watched the news feeds. One had an earpiece. "Good answer. Don't give away too much; we want to leave them curious but with a good feeling about you. Excuse yourself, smile and give a sincere nod. Perfect. Come on back." Jason tapped his earpiece and ended the communication. He grinned at Max. "See? The people already love her."

Max's features gentled as he took in Jason's excitement. "Yes. You're taking us where we should be going. Where I should have been going all along."

"You just lost sight of the path; the destination was still there."

Power Girl flew in through the holographic lawn skylight. The glass pane closed after her to keep out the elements. Jason smiled at her. "The hero of the hour! That's what Dad would say anyway. How does it feel to be out and helping people?"

"We feel good."

Jason laughed. "You can enjoy it. Just remember, Supergirl is childish compared to you and makes mistakes. Her backup indulges her instead of guides her, and she consorts with criminals. It doesn't mean she's not a good person; she _does_ help people, but it means we have to be wary when interacting with her, right?"

Power Girl considered. She was still learning how to control her facial muscles, so unless she was actively trying, she was unnervingly still. "I understand."

"Go on and change out of that. Get some rest and keep catching up on the news. We'll take it easy before you're outside most of the day interacting with children and everyday people that need help." Power Girl slipped into another room of the secret underground compound that housed her training gear and superhero stuff.

"You're good with her," Max noted.

Jason shrugged. "It's like having a younger sister, teaching her everything she needs to know about the world. Back before Mom—" He cut off abruptly.

Max waited patiently, willing to listen. Jason inhaled deeply. "Back before Mom died, she had another kid. The father didn't want anything beyond the one-night stand and left her with us. She died in a car accident when she was five."

Max put a gentle hand on Jason's shoulder. Jason sniffed. "Mom always joked she must have had a type: careless men who seemed nice and didn't want anything more. Abby's father was the first and last after you."

"I'm here now," Max whispered, bringing Jason into a hug. "If I had known…"

"I know. I believe that now." Jason pulled away. "I'm— I'm going to check on Karen and do some tinkering."

* * *

Thank you for reading and bearing with me despite delays. I have the next chapter written so it shouldn't take too much more editing to be ready to post.

Oh, and this is a snippet of the PowerGirl wikipedia article and a broad guideline of where I'm going with her: "Though they are biologically the same person, Power Girl behaves as an older, more mature, and more level-headed version of Supergirl, with a more aggressive fighting style." -Wikipedia

I based PowerGirl's outfit off of the New 52 Power Girl outfit.


	9. 1x12 Bizzaro Part 2

**1x12 Bizzaro (Part 2)**

Part 2 of 1x12!

* * *

"Here's your chance! This is highly televised already! Get there before Supergirl and do what you do best: help people." Jason took two steps over to his Labyrinth laptop and frowned. Kara was on a date and about to bail to help out. "Karen, I'll be out of touch for a moment; I'm taking care of some interference. Keep the people calm and remember to use your expressions. I'm still here and watching," he assured her, muting the channel. Jason dialed Kara, grimacing at her 'fallen grandma' line and activating his voice modulator. "It's alright, Supergirl. Enjoy the date. The tramway will be fine."

She gaped. "Lab—! Are- are you sure?"

Jason smiled at her bad covering in front of Adam Foster. The news had just caught view of Power Girl. He gave her a moment to absorb that. "It looks like it's taken care of. Enjoy your night off, Supergirl."

She was still reluctant. "You'll call me if something happens?"

"I'll keep monitoring the situation, yes."

"Thank you." She hung up with gratitude and calmed Adam and kept an eye on the news.

Jason unmuted the comm. "Taken care of. Nice work." He sliced into the tramway's operating system and frowned. "This idiotic system is just giving me warnings but isn't saying what's wrong. It will be easier to detach the whole cable car and bring it to the ground. Use your laser vision and cut through the joint. Be careful not to cut the cable wire itself."

Power Girl obeyed and brought the car down softly.

"Put it down at the edge of the mainland."

The door opened and Jason shrieked. Karen shouted out in concern over the comms as well.

_"Brother!"_

"What the Void, Dad," Jason breathed. "You startled me." He turned back to the monitoring screens. "It's alright, Karen. Just Dad checking up on us. Stay around and help the people off, smile, be a friendly face. I'm still here watching if you need help." He muted his side again. "So what brings you down?"

Max was still smiling at Jason's reaction to his entrance when he spoke. "I noticed the event. Supergirl has not made an appearance."

"She's on a date. I convinced her not to fly off and ruin her normal life."

"How did you manage that?"

"Hacker, Dad. It was easy. I just made a phone call that distracted her until Power Girl got onto the scene." He unmuted his Bluetooth earpiece. "That's probably enough, Karen. Help out that last man, steady him on his feet, smile and nod to the victims. Come on back home."

* * *

Supergirl walked with J'onn and Alex in the DEO. "Labyrinth knew Power Girl was on her way. He has to be connected somehow. Another cousin coming out of nowhere? How is that even possible?"

"That girl at Maxwell Lord's facilities could be connected," Alex threw out also.

Hank shook his head. "That girl was comatose. It would take a miracle to bring her out of it. Max has a god complex; he's not one."

They came into the main hub. "Labyrinth," Hank called out. "We need to talk."

A slight pause. "_This is not a good time," _the pink words read. There was no usual accompanying voice.

"Make time."

"_My life does not run to your schedule. I help you because you occasionally do some good for humanity. I could leave you to your sorely lacking defenses."_ There was an ugly silence. "_Give me five minutes to make my excuses."_

"Are we expecting him to give us a straight answer," Alex asked. "Every time before, he's been stubbornly reticent."

"I don't think we have a choice anymore," Kara said. "We're too far behind to catch up. We don't know anything."

"And a hacker who might be in league with her will tell us?"

A single monitor turned to Labyrinth's webcam. He in his mask sat composed, lines of text reflected in the single eye. "I'm here. What emergency have you got into today?"

"We want to know about Power Girl. How did you know she was going to save those people. Do you have access to her?"

He smirked behind the mask. "Feeling the competition?" He slouched back in the chair and put his feet up on the desk and crossed his arms. "I know through watching the cams when she's out spending time with the masses. She was escorting some lost children to the police station when she heard the news. I know your normal life is important to you, Supergirl, so I let you have it."

"Is she a threat," Hank demanded of the small screen.

"Everyone is a threat. I could bring down your organization; Supergirl could level the city; any human can pick up a gun and start shooting."

"You know what he means," Alex snapped.

"Has it occurred to you that I've never met her?" Labyrinth leaned forward. "She's helping people, like your pet aliens there. You can judge for yourself whether her motives are pure or not. Now if there's no emergency going on, I have a life I need to get back to." The screen went dark.

* * *

There will be one more dedicated PowerGirl chapter and then we continue with plot stuff


	10. 1x12 Bizzaro Part 3

**[After] 1x12 Bizzaro ((Part 3))**

So this is Part 3 of setting up PowerGirl. Happens after 1x12, before 1x13.

* * *

Maxwell Lord was in Power Girl's secret base with Jason. The two were standing in front of a rack of tv screens, watching the event to come.

Right on schedule, a news helicopter reporting on the lunch hour traffic began to falter, the news being reported live. (Jason _might_ have had a hand in creating the disaster.)

"That's on you, Power Girl," Jason said into his always present over-the-ear earpiece "Remember, take just enough time to bring it to the ground that Supergirl can show up."

Max refrained from pacing. Power Girl was ready. She had spent a month and a half training with some simulations, talking and growing her vocabulary with Jason, and it had been a week of managing to avoid Supergirl. The public was curious, the news was curious, Max had to admit even he was curious how the meet and greet would finally happen.

Jason paced, however, watching from every camera he could get from hacked cellphones to other news streams to CCTV to the body cams hidden in Power Girl's suit.

"Remember to smile when you get there."

Supergirl appeared on the other side of the copter, supporting it.

"Well that was sooner than expected. She must have been waiting for the opportunity. Follow her lead; the park will have the most space and possible media coverage. Avoid it if you can."

"Don't we _want_ the news to catch wind of this," Max asked.

"We want them to _see_ them meet. We don't want them to hear what they say. This might go terribly wrong and we don't want it to get plastered over those fickle news sites."

Power Girl and Supergirl landed the helicopter safely and helped the news anchor and the pilot out. Supergirl came around the side and held out her hand. "Hi! I'm Supergirl, but I'm sure you already knew that." She wavered off self-consciously. "Not that I'm— It's just, with CatCo covering me, and now you I suppose!" She trailed off again.

Jason whistled. "How does she get anything done? Alright, introduce yourself. Go ahead and take her hand; remember grasp firmly but not tightly."

"I am Power Girl," the Lord creation stated.

Supergirl beamed. "How'd you get to Earth? I thought I was the only one! I'm Kara Zor-El of the House of El."

"If we wished her harm, that is all we would need," Jason muttered.

Max glared at the screen. "The resemblance is blatant; she's fishing for information."

"Don't give it to her," Jason agreed. "Talk about… crap. Uh, talk about…" He threw around for a topic. "Say you just arrived in the area. It's technically true. And you need to learn how Earth works. Also true."

"I thought you were prepared for this," Max gritted out tersely.

"I thought I was too!"

"I could teach you," Supergirl was saying. "Show you around, how things are done."

"I have found someone to do so," Power Girl responded without prompting. It was the first time she had done anything of her own before.

"Oh, well that's good. My sister, human sister—adopted sister?—taught me and kept me safe here. She still does, actually." Power Girl was turning to leave. Supergirl hurriedly called after her. "Maybe we could team up again some other time?"

"It's inevitable in a single city." Power Girl flew away, the last news cameras catching final photos.

Jason exhaled. "Good save, Karen. That was beautiful." Jason looked at his dad.

Max nodded. "First hurdle over." He grasped Jason's shoulder. "Good job."

"Yeah. Now let's keep this going without getting drawn into the mess that is Supergirl's life. We might want to pull Power Girl's appearances back a bit."

"I help," Karen said, floating down from the skylight.

Jason smiled. "I know you do. But you don't need to wear a cape to help. Tomorrow we'll go out and do normal human things and help out that way. Let the fervor around you die down a little bit before one of the bad aliens decides you're on the menu too."

* * *

Because I'm sure questions will come up about Karen's vocabulary, in 1x12, the Bizzaro clone could not speak with full and proper grammar. That's why I put in the month and a half of learning and Karen's gotten really good, particularly when it comes to interview-type answers, but she'll sometimes forget the small things, like her last "I help" to Jason.


	11. 1x13 For the Girl who has Everything

**1x13 For the Girl who has Everything**

* * *

"It's your birthday tomorrow," Jason stated. Max looked up from his desk. "We are expected to celebrate it together and that I give you a gift."

"If you don't feel comfortable, it's fine," Max quickly soothed. He didn't want to force the kid into doing anything he didn't want to.

Jason nodded, finished nodding, then spoke, "I would like to go to a diner for ice cream to give you your gift."

Max smiled, blindingly, joyfully. He couldn't stop smiling. "I'll make it happen. We'll get ice cream," he promised.

Jason nodded once. And turned on his heel to leave. Despite the abrupt exit, Max was still giddy.

* * *

Alex strode into his office at work as she always did: briskly and without an invitation. Max was still riding the high of Jason actively seeking to spend the day together and let it go without much fuss. He stood from his chair to greet her. "Agent Danvers! A surprise, as usual. What brings you here?"

"What did you do to Supergirl?"

Max smiled at his desk in dark resignation, good humor killed. "Of course. You only ever show up when you accuse me or need me. This time it's both." He lifted his head again and spread his arms in an ironic welcoming gesture. "What happened to the connection we had? Or was I just a tool for you to use and discard."

Alex slid her eyes away.

Max scoffed. "I see. Come back when you have substance to your accusations or an apology for slander." He seated himself again and pointedly went back to his work. He heard Alex leave and the door close.

Max gave up the pretense of work and ran a hand through his hair. He should have expected it; anyone who wanted to get close to him only wanted access to him; his brain, his money, his connections. Heck, he should have known when he had to pressure Alex into having a _civil dinner_ with him just for the information she wanted.

He slammed his fist on the glass desk in frustration. He needed a break. He needed to let his mind empty. He needed to create something.

Jason slid into Max's private lab not long after that. They didn't say anything; didn't need to say anything to offer silent support, comfort, and companionship.

It was only four and a half hours later—early afternoon—when Alex returned.

Max noticed Jason tense almost imperceptibly and tap his ever-present over-ear earpiece. Holograms wrapped around his eye like a visor targeting unit. "Agent Danvers is back," he sneered.

Max smiled mirthlessly. "They must be desperate." He heaved in a breath. "Well, let's go see what she wants now."

"You don't have to," Jason protested. "I can go."

"The world still doesn't know about you. If the government were to hide you away somewhere, no one would know." Max smiled softly at his son. "I can handle it; I know exactly what I am to her, now."

Jason clearly had misgivings but he didn't say anything more.

Max left their private workshops and fortified himself before plastering a self-satisfied smirk across his face. "Agent Danvers. Back again I see. I hope you have a written apology there."

She was obviously swallowing her pride. "Look, I'm sorry I used you, but we need your help. _I_ need your help. Supergirl was attacked by something called a Black Mercy. It creates the perfect dream world while killing her."

"And you expect me to do what, exactly?"

"She needs to reject the dream world herself. I need to go inside her mind and convince her."

"So you want me to build a device that connects your brain pattern to her mindscape. I must say, Agent Danvers, you know how to pick your enemies." He pulled out his cell phone. "Let me make a call." And before she could protest, he was dialing. "Jason? Work called. I know—"

"I heard. Go save Supergirl. Don't trust the agent. If you keep your phone on you, I can track and hear you, and stop by Lab 4C; there's some blueprints I'm leaving that might help."

Max smiled to himself before wiping it off his face. It didn't matter; Alex had seen it. "Thanks, Jason. I'll call you when I'm done." He slid the phone back into his pocket. "Alright, Agent Danvers. Let's go."

She clearly knew it wasn't for work because he had smiled, but she needed his help and kept quiet on the matter for the moment. Max picked up the hardened leather carrying case the blueprints were in.

He climbed into the front seat of Alex's car. "I'm going to have to blindfold you." She didn't sound apologetic.

"Don't trust me? You came to me to save sweet, innocent, Kara Danvers, your sister, Supergirl," he mocked (without as much venom as he could have). He held up the tube as her hands clenched around the steering wheel. "I've got blueprints to begin piecing together anyway. Give Supergirl the most time possible."

Alex nodded tersely. She began to drive as Max slid the papers out. He skimmed the designs, hiding his surprise under a brilliant poker face. Jason had designed [a not-functioning model of] a cranial device that would enable brainwaves to sync with electronics, machinery, and the internet. There were some obvious missing pieces on the work-in-progress designs, but all the original calculations were on the page. All Max had to do was a refit the connection to organic-organic instead of organic-inorganic.

Placed in neat coils at the far bottom of the tube were wires and some scrap metal already shaped into a rough full-head frame. Max smiled to himself and began fitting the wires together, calculating the edits in his head.

Seven hours and a meeting with the helpful AI Labyrinth later, Max he slumped in a lab chair, exhausted. He should call Jason, but he couldn't bring himself to move.

Alex walked back in. "We're good to go," she said, sounding just as tired as he felt. "I'll give you a ride back to LordTech."

Max nodded and finally slid his phone free. "Jason, I just finished up. I'll be back in two hours."

"Get some rest. The world still needs Maxwell Lord," Jason responded softly.

"But—"

"We'll do it," James assured his father. "There's time; the world won't end tomorrow."

Max got home and crashed on the couch, not even making it to his room to undress before falling asleep.

* * *

Max blinked in the dim lighting, vision clearing to see his familiar ceiling. He cleared the sleep crust from his eyes with a thumb.

He stretched out the crick in his neck and sat up. Jason was sitting in an armchair facing him, scrolling leisurely through something on his laptop. "I gave the chef the day off. We never celebrated your birthday and I figured we'd spend the time together."

* * *

So because Bizzaro didn't become Murdering Weird Clone Bizzaro, there was no reason for the DEO to arrest Max. Therefore, he is still in his offices with his company when Alex needs help with the Black Mercy and not safely ensconced in his 'disposable display case'.

Larger changes are coming, though with mostly the same major plot points of each episode.

Max's B'day will be in the companion ficlets I eventually write.


	12. Interlude II

**Interlude II - After 1x14 Truth, Justice, and the American Way**

A little Interlude where Jason and Karen meet Kara.

* * *

Jason and Karen were getting coffee together. In three months, she had learned facial expressions, body language and posture, and rarely forgot words now. They had kept Power Girl as a reserve, in the news but not spotlighting her, always in a good light but not as big as Supergirl. If the public opinion turned sour as it was guaranteed to at some point, Power Girl would be spared that sinking ship.

He had picked a pair of stylish elliptical framed glasses different that Kara Danvers' that made Karen look sharp, fierce, and strong. She wore a strapless, white blouse that rested off her shoulders with a black belt. She was just this side of punk, matching Jason's tasteful rectangular frames, slim and casual black leather pants, and steel-toed combat boots.

"Oh! Oh, no. I'm so sorry! I must have forgotten my wallet," a familiar voice cried out from the counter.

Jason smirked. "One sec." He excused himself from the table. "I've got it." He smiled charmingly, laying down the cash.

"Oh you don't need to," Kara chuckled nervously.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be your hero today, and you can save somebody else tomorrow." He grinned at the double entendre. "If you have nowhere to be, there's space at my table." He weaved back to Karen.

"That's Su-"

"Shh! Yes, it is." He smiled at the genetically modified twinning kryptonian and sipped the peppermint latte he had ordered. He watched the reflection in the window as Kara drew close to the table. He turned and smiled up at her from the seat. "Decided to join us? This is Karen, my sister. I'm Jason."

"Hi, I'm Kara. Sorry, have we met before? It's just, you look familiar."

"I get that a lot," Jason replied with a secret grin. "Must have one of those faces." He waved a hand at the chair. "Sit, sit."

"Thank you. Not just for the chair, though thank you for that too. I mean the coffee also."

Jason smiled. Kara was so awkward. "What do you do, Kara? Have you lived in National City long?"

"I'm an assistant at CatCo. I grew up in Midvale, actually. Moved here for the job. What about you? College?"

"I'm tutored at home. Karen works at LordTech, though."

Kara choked on her coffee. She coughed and dabbed at her mouth. "Sorry. LordTech? What do you do? How is it working with Maxwell Lord?"

"I am in security," Karen answered with a small smile. "Mr. Lord is very concerned with security and the safety of his employees."

Jason nodded, showing his approval for Karen's choice of words while seeming like he was simply following the conversation. They chatted for a short while longer before Kara's phone notified her she had places to be. Jason exchanged phone numbers and promised to meet up again sometime, citing he had more free time than his sister.

* * *

Karen Starr's casual day outfit can be found when googling "Earth 27 Karen Starr".


	13. 1x15 Solitude Part 1

**1x15 Solitude Part 1**

So it's been a long time since I've actually watched these episodes, but I do remember that Kara had a falling out with the DEO and created her own team in the basement of CatCo with Winn and James. That aspect and the structured dialogue (the parts that clearly do not sound like me) are from the episode.

Pseudo-science is what I gleaned from the internet.

* * *

Kara went frozen when Winn said all the lights had just turned green. She sped to get changed and contacted Labyrinth from her comm unit; he was someone she could contact with the connections and reach to find out what happened.

The call connected. "Labyrinth!"

"The wireless, yes, I know. I watched her broadcast into CatCo." He sounded strained. "I'm doing everything I can to minimize damage but she is _good_. Faster than me, like she's connected her mind straight into the networks."

Jimmy spoke into the earpiece also. "Supergirl, get to Liberty Avenue. There's about to be a crash."

Labyrinth huffed. "Where _isn't_ there going to be a crash right now. Go ahead. I'll stay in contact and do what I can."

* * *

Jimmy, Kara, and Winn were sitting around her apartment, the latter working at a laptop.

"You know he's been mumbling to himself for over an hour," Jimmy said. "Isn't that the first sign of—"

"Genius. Yes," Kara interrupted.

"Not mumbling," Winn parried back. "I'm writing code. Talking out loud helps."

Kara pushed off her couch. "Alright, Winn, what is happening?"

"Talking when writing code does not actually help. Talking to a rubber duck afterward does."

They spun to the window. The thin figure standing there wore his signature hard shell face mask with one reflective eye and his hooded jacket and the belt pouches that carried the USBs with their pre-created programs. "Labyrinth!"

"The hacker is using a program that creates lots of variables to begin with and then adds an arbitrary number of variables in an arbitrary time frame. It makes it impossible to anticipate and decode."

"Th- that's exactly right," Winn stuttered, pointing. "An oscillating variable matrix. How did you know?"

"That's not actually a thing, but it's a good name for it."

"How'd you get in here," Jimmy demanded.

"Window was open. I'm Labyrinth, a programmer and coder like your friend Winn, but I do it for fun and profit instead of as a day job."

"Guys, this is Labyrinth. He hacked the DEO a while ago and has been helping out ever since."

He bowed slightly at the waist at Kara's words. "I thought I'd come over and combine talents." He reached over Winn's shoulder and scrolled to the top of the code.

"I created an inversion pathway," Winn explained to all of them. "That will, um, hopefully lead me to wherever she's hiding. I mean, for all we know, she could be organizing these attacks from the other side of the globe."

"An inversion pathway refers mostly to bioscience or mathematics, but it's a good idea. He's inferring properties of the system using digital signal processing in a roundabout way to determine signal and location. Deduction, in essence." Labyrinth stepped back to allow Winn to continue to work. "It's likely she's in this city and bouncing the signal from elsewhere. There's not another reason why she would target CatCo in particular to spread the news about the cheaters' list."

"Correct." Their gazes whipped to the computer screen where the same female model from CatCo spoke. "I'm just on the other side of your screen."

"Do you not have a camera cover," Labyrinth groaned. "Even I have a camera cover for my webcam."

"You know, you're very clever, for an ape," the woman almost complimented.

"And you are freaking me out, for an evil blonde computer face," Winn covered with a quip.

She smirked. "Then let's talk in person."

"Name the time and place," Kara agreed.

"How about now?" They all shot away from the computer as bytes of data swarmed out of the screen and formed a blue woman with red hair and three red mechanical circles placed in a triangle in her forehead. "Supergirl," she crooned. "What exactly is it that makes you so _super_."

"That symbol. I've seen it before," Kara voiced.

"It's the symbol of my people. The font of omniscient knowledge." She slowly moved closer, eyes pinning Kara's own. "I know everything about you," she breathed.

"What are you, some kind of living internet," Winn asked.

"Cool is what it is," Labyrinth agreed.

The woman punched Kara out the window and seized Winn by the neck. Labyrinth ducked under her grasp and liquid metal seemed to flow over him. He disappeared from sight. She grabbed James Olsen instead and lifted them off the ground when Kara returned. "Which of your friends should I skin first?"

The door burst open. Alex and Hank aimed guns at the alien's back. "Hold it right there!"

The alien snarled and threw her captives down. She disappeared into the computer screen. Labyrinth appeared visibly again, the liquid metal retreating to his spine like it was never there. He turned off and closed all the computers. "Well, that was a time and a half."

Winn climbed to his feet. "Oh thank gods we have our own personal Black Ops unit."

Kara strode out of her apartment. Hank and Alex trailed. Labyrinth poked his head out after them.

"Are you following me now?"

"We would never do that," Hank promised.

Labyrinth snorted. Everyone glared at him.

"We found something else embedded in the code," Alex explained. "Something alien. It led us right here."

"_We_ found something? I'm pretty sure it was all me," Labyrinth broke in again.

"The rest is classified," Hank apologized. "Accessible by active DEO agents. What do you say?"

Kara slid her gaze away and lifted her head in a power pose to help her feel more confident than she felt. "I've got this far on my own. Elevator's around the corner." She shoved past them and back into her apartment.

Hank and Alex looked at each other.

Labyrinth rolled their shoulders. "I'll continue helping both of you. Let's see who wins the day. I should start charging for this," he mused as he began to join the growing team in Supergirl's apartment.

"Is this all a joke to you," Alex burst out.

Labyrinth went still. He whipped around, the flaps of his jacket snapping. "This is _deadly_ serious. Without the internet, the world's economy will tank, there will be no power generators, no hospitals, no lights, no heating. We'd be catapulted back into the stone ages. My _joke of a job_ is the only thing keeping us from that. Consider the video footage I have of what really happened at Astra's death as incentive for not pissing me off, and remember just who has been working with you whenever _you_ needed it, even when it was inconvenient for _me_."

He stalked back towards the team he had inserted himself into, talking over his shoulder for one parting shot. "You're not paying me, you don't have a claim on my life, you _don't_ get to dictate any part of it, least of all how I approach the work."

* * *

Part 2 will be coming soon!


	14. 1x15 Solitude Part 2

**1x15 Solitude Part 2**

This takes place about halfway through the episode and mostly during conversations in CatCo between Kara and James, except when it isn't. It should make sense if you have just watched the episode and keep it in mind.

* * *

"Woah wait," their phones suddenly chirped, only loud enough for them hear. "If you're going to Superman's super secret hideout, I'm coming too. I'll meet you at Kara's place."

Labyrinth insisted they leave all phones and wireless-connected electronics in the city so their organic extraterrestrial internet thief couldn't track them and then they all flew to the Fortress of Solitude. Labyrinth activated his nanotech armor when it got cold.

"What is that," Kara asked curiously.

"Nanotechnology. Developed it myself. The armor is designed to withstand high levels of pressure, heat, and temperature changes. It also does stealth mode."

The party entered the crystalline fortress. Labyrinth secretly snapped pictures of everything through his HUD feed and took video for analysis back home. They discovered Indigo's name, abilities, and threat level.

"Think we should run this by Director Henshaw," James murmured.

"No," Kara shot down immediately.

"Look, I get that you're upset; I would be too, but this is bigger than we can handle on our own. We need them, and they need you."

"I'm not alone," Kara whispered. "I'm with you."

Labyrinth had made himself scarce and _might_ have been trying to tap into the systems. The AI helper Supergirl called Kelex would be great source material for something.

* * *

"I miss Winn and Alex," Kara sighed. "I save the world better _with_ people."

"You're with me," Jim reminded softly.

Kara smiled. "You're right. It's just…"

"I get it. The resources they have means you don't have to do this busywork. You can focus on punching the bad guys."

She sighed. "Yeah."

"What about Power Girl? Could she help us?"

"There hasn't been any news since that first night. She flew around stopping crashes and carrying people to hospitals, but after people stopped driving, there was no need for her. She's gone to ground again."

"How about Labyrinth? He must have some resources if he developed that armor on his own."

"He's already done so much for me; I don't want to bother him. He does have his own life, as he keeps reminding everyone."

"Kara, we're just two people. We can't fight this on our own. Call Labyrinth. I'm sure the end of the world takes precedent."

Lucy Lane walked in just then and with more information.

* * *

Labyrinth was sitting at the wall of monitors, splitting his attention between the DEO, Kara's conversation, and his own forays into the mess of living code. Power Girl was pacing behind him, wanting to help.

Conversation caught his attention and he turned up the volume on Kara's cellphone. He did a search for Colonel Mathers and got the answer far sooner than Lucy Lane's roundabout explanation.

"Power Girl, you're up. Get Indigo to materialize. Void, I hope the worm works."

Karen blasted out of the headquarters. Maxwell Lord walked in.

"Shit," Jason cursed. He slid the mask off and disengaged the vocalator. "Uh, hi, Dad. I'm just trying to help out against this cyberterrorist. You know, because I'm a hacker and all that."

Max raised an unimpressed brow. "Labyrinth isn't an AI; it's _you_."

"Well, the source is extraterrestrial, so I am kind of maybe working with the DEO and Supergirl on this?"

"How long have you been in their system?"

Jason's shoulders slumped in defeat. "A couple days after you gave me the laptop. I noticed they were in your systems and lured them into allowing me access," Jason revealed. "But I've done some good work! Managed to save human lives!"

Power Girl arrived at the missile silo after Indigo had knocked everyone out but before she had turned the keys. They began to fight; Jason abandoned his explanation and uploaded the virus. "Put the cellphone through her body the hard way," he ordered. Power Girl tucked into a roll, swept up the phone, and punched it through Indigo's body. The virus transferred and the alien twitched like she had been tased.

"Great. Bring me her processing core. The three circles on her forehead. Supergirl's headed your way; be careful."

Power Girl ripped out the processor and stealthed, her suit reflecting light in order to become invisible. Jason swiveled back to Max. "So yeah, I might have been working with them occasionally. I refuse to be at their beck and call, however, so there's that too."

"What's Power Girl bringing back to us?"

Jason waved a hand at the screens. "Indigo is a living computer. The data she carries can help keep us ahead of the alien threat, and if we can separate the code from the virus and her personality, we can get ahead of the AI curve. That's what I plan, anyway. Can you imagine how strong our security will be if we used alien code? No one would be able to understand it, let alone crack it."

He became aware of people talking on the DEO's side. "_We could ask someone already in the system. Labyrinth."_

He swiveled to the screens and touched the hollow of his throat, where the voice changer rested on the inside of the turtleneck. "I'm here." He enabled the program that made their screens see his usual mask and dark room setup he normally displayed.

Max tapped the keys so the sound went through the speakers instead of Jason's earpiece.

"Can you get us into Fort Pemberton's security system."

Jason whistled. "You're asking me to slice into a top secret military nuclear missile silo's cameras? That's highly illegal." He was already typing. He was also highly aware of his dad just over his shoulder. "What happened to the other one you poached? Was Winn not good enough?"

"Can you do it or not," Hank ground out.

"Of course I can." Jason moved to another keyboard to edit the video and make sure Karen wasn't visible. "I'm no longer fighting for control; did we stop Indigo?"

"That's what we're trying to find out."

Jason acknowledged Karen when she landed. "Here it is. We've only got exteriors; no interior. Where do you want me to start?"

"Today."

Jason scrolled through the video feeds quickly. "What are we looking for?"

"General Mathers' arrival."

"Found it."

"Play it frame by frame." Every one second frame Mathers and his buddy walked in. There was nothing for three minutes. Then the door blew up when a stealthed Power Girl arrived, not that the DEO knew that. Shortly after, Supergirl arrived.

"So whatever happened, it happened in a minute timeframe. That's not much time."

Jason beckoned for the data core while the others talked. He muted his channel. "This is the brain of whatever attacked us. She could interface directly with the internet. It's a gorgeous ability, and she's sure to have downloadable information about other alien species," Jason told Max.

Max looked into Jason's eyes. "Together."

Jason smiled softly. "Together. I promise I won't keep anything this big from you again."

"Labyrinth, are you still there?"

Jason jerked back to the comms and unmuted the channel. "Not really. Stuff came up in real life."

"Understood," Hank allowed. "Keep looking into this and tell us if you find anything."

Jason left the program muted. Max looked impressed. "You worked your way into their trust. Government agencies are notoriously controlling."

"They know I am the best they have access to, but I refuse to work for them." He beckoned Karen closer. "Now lets see what beautiful information we can get from this."

* * *

So I know that this chapter was really confusing. I'm sorry. I try to hit the important events and thats about it, in case you haven't noticed. Important points of this chapter: Kara took Jason to the Fortress of Solitude, Max discovered Jason is Labyrinth, Power Girl went to stop Indigo at the missile silo before Supergirl got there, and Jason took Indigo's data core for research purposes.

For Jason's nanotech suit, imagine Iron Man's Endo-Sym armor with the looks of the thinner Iron Spider but in a dark grey-black and with Endo-Sym's blue lights.


	15. 1x16 Falling Part 1

**1x16 Falling Part 1**

Pseudo-science is pseudo.

* * *

Jason blinked at the flaming warehouse on one of the screens. "Was that… one of your labs?"

"Yes. That had the prototype kryptonite in it. Power Girl is on her way."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't affect her."

Power Girl met Supergirl and they greeted each other while helping firefighters out. Supergirl was really energetic and into it; probably because of all the nice things the tv talk shows said about her.

Power Girl watched closely for any effects of being in proximity to the red kryptonite. Both acknowledged each other and flew their separate directions.

"Supergirl affected."

"Supergirl _was_ affected," Jason corrected absently. He was looking through the footage. "See there? The red veins?"

Max grimaced. "So we know it affects her, not like green kryptonite, and in ways we don't yet understand."

"I'll keep monitoring."

* * *

"Dad! Can you come down to my labs? I have something to show you!" The intercom crackled to life and went dead within the span of scant seconds.

Max smiled at the abruptness. Jason was far different than the melancholy boy that dropped into his life just over a year ago. He was growing into a fine young man, exercising his creativity and engineering, honing his own skills to his high standards.

Still contemplating his pride in his son, Max took the private elevator down to the underground workshops. He keyed in the code to Jason's section. The boy waved him over.

"Dad! Say hi to Pharos. Pharos, say hi."

"Hello, Mr. Lord," a voice from the ceiling speakers greeted in slight Welsh accent. "I am Pharos, named for the famous lighthouse of Alexandria that still remains a source of awe and mystery to the present."

"A fully functioning artificial intelligence," Max breathed. "Jason, you're brilliant!"

Jason beamed, unable to stop from basking in his well-earned success. "I know! The visit to the Fortress of Solitude and the code we pulled from Indigo sped the process by hundredfold." He grabbed something from a worktable and quickly moved to his father. "With Pharos' completion comes this: the finished version of the nanotech armor. Pharos can monitor situations and activate the armor quicker than we could react to push the activation button." He presented the slim nanobot casing that would attach to Max's spine and expand from it in times of need.

Max took it. "Thank you."

Jason smiled. "I made your armor dark-blue-almost-black with silver accents. Mine is dark silver with dark green accents. It's powered by the body's natural electrical current, and yours can take more damage than mine. You can talk with Pharos with or without the armor activated—he talks from the topmost spinal plate. He can give you advice, information, be a sounding board." Jason trailed off but still had his wide smile. "Sorry, I'm talking too much."

"No, it's good." Max drew Jason into a one-armed hug. "I appreciate it."

Jason grinned. "The spinal plates should be thin enough to be completely hidden under any shirt." He shrugged with a beam. "You've never noticed my own, and that was just the prototype. Here! I'll help you put it on!"

Max crouched down with a small smile at Jason's enthusiasm. Jason fitted the plate to the very top of Max's spine, just low enough where a t-shirt collar would cover. The upside-down pentagonal plates flowed downward, decreasing slightly in size in reminisce of a tailbone until it stopped at the hollow of Max's back underneath his button-down shirt. Max stretched and rotated his torso to get a feel of it. Beyond the quickly-warming metal and surprisingly comforting weight, it was unnoticeable.

"It fits perfectly."

* * *

Jason stifled a yawn as he got out of the car and checked his phone. "Hey, Dad, you remember that red kryptonite thing yesterday? I think I've figured out how it affected her." He showed Max the video feed.

"That's live?"

"Yeah. Contact the DEO? You need to get on this."

"Reverse the process," Max agreed. "Take the red properties, dilute it with green, increase the strength, then hit her with solar energy to restore her strength." Max stopped. Why was one of his first thoughts of a mechanism to restore her? If it had been even a year ago, he would have fixed the problem and been done with it; not go further than required.

"Dad?"

"I'm fine; thinking. Tell me if she gets worse. I'll start on a cure."

"Of course. I'll bring it to the DEO's attention if things get out of hand, too."

* * *

Max held up the little ray gun. "This is it. This should return her to normal. It has three shots."

"I'll do it. If it got out that Maxwell Lord shot Supergirl, LordTech would tank. I can get to Kara's apartment before her date shows up."

"No, I should do it."

"I'll be fine, Dad. I can do this." Max was still skeptical. Jason grinned. "Don't worry; I'll stay on comms and Power Girl can back me up if things really go wrong."

Dusk was just turning to night when Jason in his Labyrinth outfit perched on Kara's windowsill like some gargoyle and fired the red energy weapon point blank into her back.

* * *

I didn't really have to make this a two-parter, but this was such an amazing cliffhanger to end on.


	16. 1x16 Falling Part 2

**1x16 Falling Part 2**

In which introductions are made, realizations had, and the universe continues to deviate.

* * *

Kara blinked awake blearily. Her head was pounding. What…?

Color drained from her face when she remembered the day before. Something had affected her, she knew it, and she was grateful she hadn't _ruined_ anyone's life. Except maybe Siobhan's, but that girl was a jerk anyway.

Wait, was that something still affecting her?

She heard a door open—she just realized she couldn't hear anything beyond the whitewashed walls—and spun. _Jason_ came in, carrying a sealed bottle of water. He wasn't wearing glasses.

"Are you alright?" He handed her the bottle. "Here."

She took it but didn't make a move to open or drink. "Where am I?"

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "That's… I don't think you're going to like the answer."

Her eyes fell upon the chair beside her hospice bed where a familiar jacket and mask were strewn. "You're Labyrinth."

"Yeah. And we're at LordTech."

"LordTech!" She tried to get off and stumbled sideways. Jason steadied her. "Woah, hold on. I know you haven't exactly had the greatest history with him, but he's changed. Mostly. I straighten out his worst tendencies. It's a work in progress."

She jerked out of his grip. Jason let her fall back against the bed. "Look, we don't have to do anything right away. You can sit and rest. You _should_ sit and rest. It's the weekend; you were out the entire night."

"What happened to me?"

Jason turned the chair around so he could lean against the back of it while standing and facing her. "Lord Technologies was experimenting with synthetic kryptonite to give us an edge against Non—"

"And me," she interjected.

"Actually, no. I convinced him on that front. Anyway the fire you and Power Girl helped out with two days ago had a prototype we were experimenting with, a red version. As soon as you began to show symptoms of being affected, we stepped in to help."

"Who's _we_?"

"Jason and I," Max Lord answered, coming in also. "Are you yourself again?"

Kara stared at the similarities between the two. "_That's_ why you looked familiar! You're Max's son!"

Jason nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't a part of his life until just last year, though, and he didn't know I was Labyrinth until last week, with the whole Indigo thing. He walked in on me helping you and the DEO keep her out of their servers. But we can talk about that later. I know you have no reason to trust us—him—_me_," he kept correcting himself, "but we'd really like you to stay for observation for at least another day. We don't know how the red kryptonite affected you."

Kara frowned. "I was myself, but I was different. I was confident, bold."

"It suppressed your inhibitions," Max supplied.

"Yes! I couldn't tell myself stop. It was all normal for me, like I had always been like that. Can I call someone? I missed a date last night."

"With James Olsen," Jason asked knowingly. "Yeah. Dad and I have got some work to do. Karen'll get you a change of clothes and show you around the base. We'll meet back up for lunch."

Max and Jason left. Karen strode in a minute later, just as sure of herself as Kara never was. She offered a small folded pile of clothes. "We should be the same size," Karen mused. "Just come out when you're done. I'll be outside."

Kara lay out the clothes. The other had clearly tried to choose something not as bold as her normal style: it was a white tank top, a faded red zipper jacket, and jeans. Kara zipped up the jacket and folded her superhero outfit, choosing to go barefoot for now. She exited cautiously.

Karen was leaning against the wall facing the door and on her phone. She looked up. "Looks good; casual, young. You should try keeping up with the trends." She frowned at Kara's bare feet. "Shoes. Running shoes will have to do. Come this way; my room's over here."

"Are we underground?"

"Underneath LordTech's main facilities. I live here most of the time because it's quiet." Karen opened a door. They were suddenly met with sunlight filtering through the glass skylight and brightening a lived-in, homely, wood floored sitting room with a large fuzzy carpet centered between tasteful leather couches taking up one portion, a clean kitchenette and island with bar stools in another corner, a weight machine neat against a fourth corner, and two doors on the far side that presumably led to a bedroom. "One second; I'll get you shoes and socks." She disappeared into one of the other rooms.

Kara still stood on the threshold taking it all in. She wouldn't have thought Maxwell Lord would build an artist loft for one employee. He wasn't that sort of person!

But maybe she didn't know Maxwell as well as she should to make those kinds of judgments.

Karen came back out with white shoes and socks. "Here you go. You can keep these, too. I've got another pair in gray."

"How- What- Why?"

Karen looked surprised. "Haven't you figured it out? I'm Power Girl. Father was kind enough to support me when I wanted to do what you do. Brother was my tech. Still is, when I'm in the field. It was his idea to isolate this place from exterior distractions so I can rest easier. Anyway, these are my rooms, obviously. You woke in the never-before used medical rooms, this is the control center where Brother advises me, and this is the elevator." Karen entered.

Kara chased after Karen. "Wait, wait, wait. _What? You're _Power Girl?"

"Yes." There were four buttons set in a diamond and none with labels. "Bottom one's me. The left is to Brother's personal workshop, the right to Father's, and the top to their private garage." She pressed the middle left one.

"How did you get to Earth? How long have you been here? Who _were_ you on Krypton?"

Karen raised a brow. "Brother was not playing when he described you."

"Is that a good thing?" The elevator opened and the normal hubbub of the city beyond the building hit Kara, noticeable because it had been absent before. Jason was stretched out on a small couch pushed against the wall to their right. He was fiddling with a device in his hands.

"Brother, Kara wishes to know how I came here."

Jason looked up, placing the mess of wires aside. "Yeah? Hi, Kara. Glad to see you're looking better." He went looking among the stainless steel wheeling tables. "I have a tablet here somewhere…" He lifted up one side of a stack of blueprints. "Here we go." He managed to slide a tablet from under the papers. He typed in a code. "This is a brief summary of what happened." (Edited, of course, to paint LordTech and Maxwell Lord in a good light.) "You can read that. And I've got some suggestions for your equipment after that."

Kara skimmed the short outline, both awed and disgusted. "So Max stole a _coma patient_ in order to make Power Girl?"

"She was scheduled for termination; she had no family, no life. Father _gave __me_ a _purpose_ and family," Karen rebuked. "Brother taught me and showed me the world again. They help me help people."

"It's okay, Karen. We knew the animosity would be difficult to break. Why don't you go keep Dad company."

Karen stalked away.

Jason locked a wheel of the table so he could lean on it. "I understand that you have beef with my dad, I get that, but after that whole scare when Non infiltrated the facilities _while I was still in the building_, he's been tame. I've been good for him. All he needed was a close reminder of what he was fighting for and that there's always a better way. He helped you when Alex had _used_ him, saved you from that Black Death, offered tech advice when you needed it."

Kara looked conflicted.

"He's protective of me, but any father would be after discovering they had a sixteen-year-old son they had never met before. He's kept me out of the media spotlight because he cares." They devolved into silence for a long moment. "Just think about that." He waved at the door on the far side of the workshop. "You can leave, if you want. I recommend going either to us or the DEO if you feel any ill effects." He went back out the elevator, leaving Kara to ponder on her own prejudices.


	17. 1x17 Manhunter

**1x17 Manhunter**

* * *

"Jason," Pharos requested into his earpiece. "Alex Danvers and Hank Henshaw just went on the run."

Jason choked on his tea. "What? From what?"

"They were looking into the disappearance of Dr. Jeremiah Danvers and believes he could be alive and held hostage by an organization called Project Cadmus. The government and DEO took offense to that."

"And?"

"My search reveals evidence to that fact."

"Send everything to Dad and screen the relevant stuff for me."

* * *

Max and Jason stared at each other after Pharos' rundown. "So… I'm telling Kara," Jason finally declared. "Do you want me to track down Alex? She did use you and break your heart and is a heartless bastard."

Max shook his head after a long moment. "No. Leave Agent Danvers. I am more interested in Project Cadmus."

Jason grinned. "We'll get on that. Pharos?"

"I will continue to attempt to gain access to their servers."

A thought occurred to Jason. "Actually, I'll wait until after Kara's work hours to tell her." Jason held up Max's red beam energy gun that they had used to restore Kara after the whole red kryptonite thing. "Want to see how much we can trick this out?"

* * *

Jason called Kara after work hours. "Hey, it's Jason. I completely understand if you don't want to see me but I've got important information. Like, _important_ important information. About Alex. I can send it to your phone but I think it's really better—"

"Where?"

His relief was almost palpable over the phone. "That coffee shop Jitters? It's quiet right now."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," Kara agreed tiredly.

After she heard the DEO had turned against her sister, a _loyal _agent who was just trying to uncover the lies the government had covered up about their father, she at the same time believed it and couldn't believe it.

She called Alex's number, left Jason at the shop and flew to her sister's apartment, screamed and raged at the DEO.

She knew enough from the Indigo event that she could not do her superheroing alone. Jason had stood by her, however. Even as Labyrinth, even when she had spoken ill of his father, even when the DEO had attempted to force him to work for them. Maybe she would work with him, and if that put her close to Maxwell Lord, then it would be a chance to see if Jason's words were true.

* * *

Short and choppy chapter. Sorry guys. Next one will come maybe soon, but it's coming.

This is basically when Alex and Hank leave to find her father in this episode.

Pharos is the AI Jason created in chapter 15.


	18. 1x18 World's Finest

**1x18 World's Finest**

It's been a busy couple of weeks, and this chapter is decidedly shorter than I remember it being, but have no fear: this fic is in no way abandoned.

* * *

Jason whistled. Someone new was in town, and he was fairly sure the new superfast man would be at the room Supergirl had appropriated as a makeshift hideout in CatCo's building.

He went to the coffee shop and ordered Kara's, Winn's, and Jimmy's usual coffees, courtesy of Pharos' snooping.

"Kara Danvers and the new man have returned to the CatCo building," Pharos said into his ear.

Jason absolutely adored his earpiece. "Let's make an appearance." He carried the cardboard cup carrier into the building.

He acted like a regular delivery boy and took the elevator to the unfinished work hallways. The door was open. He knocked on the frame. "Delivery for Kara Danvers."

They all jumped. "Jason!"

He smiled. "I thought CatCo might jump on this superhero also. The Blur. Strange name. Anyway I came to get the scoop." He held up the tray. "I brought coffee."

"Haha yes! Ice cream and coffee!" She picked up her cup and inhaled the fragrance. Jason handed out the other orders.

"I didn't know what you like, so I got you a peppermint-cinnamon doubleshot," he explained to the newcomer. "I'm Jason, Kara's best young friend."

"Barry Allen."

"Winn Schott."

"Jimmy Olsen. Sorry, how'd you know our—"

"Jason, Barry's from another universe!"

"Uh, are you sure you should be telling him that," Winn asked.

Jason ignored him. "Cool. I assume you need help getting back?"

"Yeah. Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Hey, I may look like a punk. It doesn't mean I don't have brains. How'd you get here? I assume something needed to boost your speed if you can't get back."

"Yes! Um…"

Kara spun to her purse. "Here!"

"It's called a tachyon device," Barry explained helpfully.

"Beautiful but big. Do you want me to shrink it? I can probably manage. Can I take this with me?"

"Sure. But first thing's first, food." Barry cringed cutely. "I have to consume about 30,000 calories a day."

Winn nodded. "Oh, yeah. You totally met the right girl."

Barry swung his head around.

Kara grinned. "Do you like donuts?"

"Who doesn't like donuts?"

"I know a place."

"Alright. Do you wanna?"

"Sure let's."

Jason smiled at their perfectness. He pulled a few bills from his wallet. "Bring me a dozen chocolate iced and come by the workshop's back entrance."

Kara grinned. "Thanks!"

* * *

Kara and Barry walked into the donut shop, breathing in the warm, sweet air of baking bread and glazed sugar. She was grinning widely. "Flour Up has some of the best donuts in the city," she explained. Going up to the counter, she began ordering things off the menu. "Hello, Marie! Can I get a dozen sugar donuts and another dozen chocolate iced?" She pulled out the bills Jason gave her.

Barry gaped. "Woah, is that kid loaded?"

She stared at the three hundred-dollar bills. Even though she knew Maxwell Lord was a wealthy businessman, she hadn't expected anything to extend to her, even as friends. She smiled at Barry. "I guess he wants us to have a good time. Can we get eight dozen donuts?"

Marie whistled. "Party at work?"

Kara nodded. "Yup! We're getting pizza and potstickers also!"

"We are?"

Kara beamed. "Jason's sister probably eats as much as we do. We might as well enjoy it."

"His sister?"

"It's complicated." She lowered her voice into a whisper. "His father gene sequenced and created her from my kryptonian DNA."

"You can do that?"

She nodded, biting her bottom lip in restrained excitement. "We're going to his workshop next! He should have some ideas in progress by now."

* * *

Barry whistled at the clean glass building of Lord Technologies. "That's where we're going?"

"Lord Technologies, yes. We're going in the back entrance." She entered the parking garage across the street from the laboratories and entered the elevator instead of taking the stairs to the underground tunnel that Lord scientists used to get to the main campus. She pressed the white call button. The elevator moved downwards. It opened to a white hallway; Karen met them.

"Hi, Karen! This is Barry Allen, from another universe. Barry, this is Karen Starr, the genetically modified."

Karen frowned. She did not say anything about her introduction, however. "Brother is in Father's workshop."

Kara lifted one of the bags of takeout. "We brought food. Can we leave it at your place?"

Karen nodded. Kara brought Barry to the apartment and laid out the food. Maxwell Lord entered, shined shoes silent on the concrete floors of the hall.

"Mmph!" Kara swallowed her current mouthful. "Barry, this is Maxwell Lord. Max, Barry Allen."

"Genius, billionaire, philanthropist," Max continued his introduction charmingly, grasping Barry's hand. "Beautiful tachyon device you brought. Jason and I had a wonderful time taking it apart."

"You, uh, what?"

Max presented a thin circular disk that glowed with a white-blue eye. The disk was as large as his palm and had a satisfying weight to it. "I can create a harness for it that will fit seamlessly under your clothes if you wish. This device should be much more powerful than that chestpiece you previously used."

* * *

This is a lot more choppy than I remember. That's okay.

Next Up! Myriad! And it's going to be long.


	19. Myriad Part 1

**Myriad Part 1**

Okay guys. This is the doozy. The big one. The episode plots that have given me the most trouble. I spent at least three months on these to get them into some semblance of order and cohesion even before beginning to post this story: there was a large chunk of the Cat argument that refused to be wrangled into somewhat natural lines of thought that my beta helped with.

So yeah. This is part one of at least three in the Myriad plotline.

* * *

Jason and Max were curled on the large couch in front of the floor-to-ceiling home theater. They were enjoying a movie about dreadfully normal people and their mundane dramatics; it gave them some insight to how it might be to not worry about things such as alien invasions and world domination events.

"You want some more popcorn," Jason asked, pushing himself off the cushions and shaking the container lightly, "I'm getting an orange." He looked up. "Dad?"

Max couldn't move. His body was frozen, his face blank, not listening to any of his own mental commands or yelling.

Jason was immediately concerned. "Pharos, what's happened?"

"There appears to be a mass exodus onto the streets of National City," Pharos reported. "There is a foreign signal dominating the airwaves."

Jason's eyes widened with realization. Max cursed with the teenager as the reason hit them. Jason sprinted from the media room. "Keep Dad inside the building any way you can," his voice floated back. Jason always wore an earpiece, and his current model was the updated version Max had made for him with the anti-mind-altering technology. Max was not wearing his: they were in their carrying case in his nightstand drawer.

Max's body began to move of its own volition, taking his imprisoned mind towards the door.

Jason sprinted back down and used momentum to tackle Max to the carpet. With Max winded, it was easy to fit the tech just behind his ears.

Life came back into his face. "Jason!" He wrapped his arms around the teenager, holding him tight. That was far, far too close for comfort. Jason mumbled as much into his shirt.

"Let's find out what's causing this," Max whispered.

Jason nodded.

They didn't move for long minutes.

* * *

Kara flew into the DEO with all speed, pushing Lucy and her mindwashed goons off their feet with the small shockwave. She may not be pleased with the DEO, but right now they held all manner of alien prisoners; they could not be allowed free.

Lucy recovered quickly and began to fire kryptonite bullets. Kara had to duck behind a table cabinet set of drawers.

"Lucy! You have to fight it!"

"That is most unlikely," a slight Welsh voice said into her ear. "Pardon the surprise; I am Pharos, an acquaintance of Labyrinth."

Supergirl heard the clips change in the guns. "Is he okay?"

Pharos ignored the question. "I have taken control of the entire base. Any door that can be locked is now so; their passcodes will not function; their generators will shut down if they attempt to dislodge me from the system. You may continue with any business you must complete."

"_Prisoner release in thirty seconds,"_ the overhead system declared cheerfully.

"What is that," Supergirl demanded.

"Simply words to stop the agents from attempting to dislodge me before I intertwined myself more deeply. A 'red herring,' if you will. You may wish to destroy the console, however, so they will not have the ability to try opening the cells again."

Supergirl made a dash to her old pod and activated the thrusters. The concussive blast of the rockets starting knocked out the agents firing upon her. She destroyed the console Pharos instructed her to and then finally dug the kryptonite bullet from her arm.

"Medical supplies are in the desk you were crouching behind," Pharos offered.

Kara knelt by Lucy briefly to check she was still breathing before wrapping the wound with gauze. It would heal quickly enough. "Is Labyrinth available?"

"Labyrinth and Lord are currently unavailable but will be shortly. I can pass on a message?"

She groaned, feeling the overwhelming pressure of not having anyone to _help her_.

Kal-El! She needed advice and he was most in place to give it!

Except she couldn't find him anywhere on the planet.

"If I may," Pharos spoke into her ear again, "we need information. Is there any place we can get details about this Myriad that has taken National City hostage?"

"The Fortress! Thank you, Pharos!"

"I live to serve."

She cursed Kelex's uselessness but gaped when a hologram of her mother appeared to reveal Myriad and what Astra had alluded to before the DEO killed her.

"I'm sorry, my dear Kara. Once started, Myriad cannot be stopped," Alura finished. She deactivated.

"Well," a familiar drawl sounded in her ear, "she's clearly never met humans. We don't give up easy."

"Labyrinth!"

"Heya, Supergirl! How did you like Pharos? He's helpful, isn't he? Now Dad and I already knew it was brainwashing technology, that much was obvious. He's working on a possible widespread countermeasure while Pharos and I help keep this isolated from the outside world. It's so much harder than you think. Meet at CatCo?"

Kara's entire body slumped with relief. She had a friend; she had the help of two of the smartest geniuses on the planet; she was not alone. "Thank you, Jason."

* * *

The news was on the tvs at CatCo citing military blockade of the city. No one was coming in, and definitely no one was leaving. She supposed Labyrinth took care of any questions and excuses.

Winn was at his desk typing mindlessly away at complicated alien computer code, just like everybody else in the office. The feeling of helplessness grew as Kara looked around at those she knew and cared for enslaved to the feeds.

The elevator bell rang, and she whirled, a solemn smile ready for Jason. It morphed to disbelief when _Cat Grant_ walked out, nowhere near mindless, and already giving orders.

"Mrs. Grant! You're not a mindless drone!" And sure, Cat responded characteristically self-centered, but she took notice when Kara went onto the balcony to meet her cousin for his assistance. Clark plummeting down to join the people mindless on the streets was depressing.

"What's going on," Cat asked, peering down at the statue-like people far below, like ants.

"Myriad: the latest evil alien plot. How did you get here without noticing," someone asked.

They spun.

Labyrinth was standing on the balcony railing, arms crossed, back leaning against the side of the building. He dropped onto the balcony tiles. "Even if you didn't have a chauffeur drive, you must have noticed people in the streets."

"They could be running one of those charity marathons I don't question the masses," Cat snipped. "Who are you?"

"Labyrinth. I'm a computer programmer and hacker who works with Supergirl and Power Girl. She's also down there marching."

"If even Superman can be affected, are any of us safe," Kara asked no one, beginning to feel the overwhelming pressure.

"Of course," Labyrinth assured. "We have something most aliens don't: stubbornness, ingenuity, and the refusal to go down without a fight."

"We don't need stubbornness. We need a miracle."

"Well I'm not god, but I'll do my best." Maxwell Lord joined them on the balcony, impeccably dressed as always and wearing a strange, silver behind-ear device glowing with blue lights.

"Maxwell Lord," Labyrinth greeted. He pushed past back into the building. Supergirl followed, and with her, everybody else.

Max's snark was sharp, but Kara knew now it was how he responded to situations. "Do kryptonians gloat? Because Uncle Non is probably laughing himself silly."

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised you kept your brain," Cat shot back in protection of her 'protege,' "What do they say? Cockroaches always survive?"

"If neither of you have useful contributions, shut up."

Both their eyebrows shot up.

Labyrinth nodded. "Thank you. Now, Max, I assume you came here because you have an idea?"

Kara directed her questions towards the billionaire, knowing his reason "Why aren't you affected?"

Max gestured to the devices he wore. "Ion blockers. They prevent all forms of mind control." So it appeared that even though they were working together, the Lords still didn't trust her with everything. Though actually, with the footage Jason showed her of Alex taking advantage of Max's position and Hank mindwiping a security guard, she understood. She still didn't like it, however.

"I figured out the Kryptonians were using my LTE system to broadcast their media waves into the minds of everybody in National City. That's why they broke in over Christmas; they weren't stealing anything; they were leaving something behind. These scramble the signal before it reaches my brain."

Supergirl's brow furrowed. "If you invented technology that blocks Myriad why didn't you make more of them?"

He spoke as if to a child not understanding economics. "Because they're not viable as a long-term monetary plan?"

"Well clearly not everyone needs one of those ion thingies because I don't have one and my brain is perfectly intact. Not to mention Hacker over there."

"My mask has one built in."

The tech mogul smiled. "I see you're wearing the earrings I sent you last night."

Cat _hrm_ed. "Ion blockers in the diamonds?"

Max hummed.

"So many carats yet so functional."

He chuckled. "Didn't seem right for the world to lose Cat Grant's mind." He brushed her hair back tenderly to reveal the earrings.

Kara and Jason stared. Jason shook his head. "Nope, not happening, and especially not with the end of the world." The two adults in the room broke away, Cat embarrassed, Max nonchalant and maybe a little bit smug.

Supergirl cleared her throat in agreement. "If it only targets humans, why was my cousin affected?"

"Nature versus Nurture. He may be an alien but he grew up on Earth. Environmental factors—being raised by ordinary human people—made his brain more human. The Man of Steel brought to his knees all because he went to kindergarten and watched _Sesame Street_."

Supergirl narrowed her eyes. Sure, this may be how Max deals with stress, but some lines were not meant to be crossed. Ever.

Fortunately, Labyrinth interrupted before something irreversible happened. Like Kara vaporizing Max with her heat vision.

"The same happened to Power Girl. All we have are the people in this room. Now, functional ideas?"

"They're Lord satellites. Can't you reprogram them and destroy them from the inside?"

"Already tried," both Labyrinth and Max said at the same time. Labyrinth shrugged. "What? I did say I'm a hacker. They've got forcefields around them that will take days to get through; days we don't have."

Cat rolled her eyes. "I'm sure the great Maxwell Lord didn't come here without a plan."

"Of course I do. We kill them all."

Labyrinth coughed. "Excuse me, _what?_" It was good to know Kara was not the only one who wasn't informed of that plan. She felt much the same way.

Cat was taking none of it. "How exactly do you plan on killing an army of Supermans?"

"I'll tell you the plan when I know you're all on board. I can't have Muscles trying to stop me."

"Killing is never the answer," 'Muscles,' Supergirl, asserted.

"I disagree with that." Jason was actually looking like he was considering the point.

Max pressed his advantage. "With Myriad, how long is it before every man, woman, and child is on their knees? I won't let that happen."

And Kara finally understood Max's abrupt shift back to the callous man he was before Jason. And looking at Jason's tense form, he realized it too.

"I have an idea," Cat interrupted. "This signal is sent over the airwaves, so let's give the citizens of National City something else to see. An icon so powerful and so recognizable it brings hope. Let's give them Supergirl."

Her short speech was impassioned enough that it created a momentary quiet where they all reflected and allowed themselves to consider the possibility. Consider the _hope_. And then of course, logic asserted itself.

"I'm sorry," Jason—_Labyrinth_—interrupted Cat Grant. "Your solution is to broadcast a speech about hope and hope yourself that it reaches and reboots their cingulate cortex and snaps them out of whatever funk they're in? That is so stupidly inane and pointless that it's practically a cop-out ending of a popular CW show."

"Do you have a better idea?" Cat's hands were on her hips imperiously.

"We detonate a kryptonite bomb over the city. Minimum casualties and the Kryptonians are gone," Max answered simply.

"I said 'better,' not 'idiotic,'" the media mogul snapped.

"Neither idea is good," Labyrinth agreed. "I've been backtracking and decoding the Myriad frequency. We can have Supergirl track it back to their headquarters and get rid of the source."

"And how many people will die before you shut down the signal," Kara interrupted. "I'm not risking any more lives. We will broadcast while Labyrinth works."

Slowly, nods of agreement were given.

"Okay," Labyrinth agreed. "We'll do it. We need somewhere without a digital connection—broadband frequencies."

"My old television station," Cat offered. "It should work."

Labyrinth nodded. "I'll meet you there. There's something I need to pick up. Pharos will ghost you past the cameras without drawing attention."

"And where are you going?"

Of course Max would ask: he had a real stake in Labyrinth's wellbeing.

"Let's say to get tools we'll probably need." The hacker walked to the elevator with a jaunty wave.

* * *

I got an ask about more with World's Finest. People do love a good crossover, me included, but there's not enough plot substance in what i have already written to put it in the main storyline of _Direction_, so I'll add the fluffy one-shot vignettes in the companion side fic collection that I'll be posting at some point. But you have to realize that because Max did not create Bizarro, Alex didn't arrest him; and because Jason was there to monitor and push a cure to the red kryptonite, Kara never lost the public's faith. Though Siobhan did still go crazy with jealousy and her banshee powers.

I also cut out Non's big d*ck speech in CatCo bc I didn't think it was necessary: everyone knows he did it and all. Then again, its been ages since I've watched the episode.

Thank you so much for reading and staying with me! I hope you enjoy!


	20. Myriad Part 2

**Myriad Part II**

I debated for a long time whether to combine this into one standard length chapter or make two really short chapters because of natural story breaks and cliffhangers. I have decided to just make one standard length chapter.

Sorry for the really long wait. I've been meaning to post but life just kept getting in the way. But here it is now!

* * *

Everybody whirled at a modulated wolf whistle. Labyrinth was now wearing a laptop backpack with the end of a steel baseball bat sticking up over his shoulder. "Now this place is a beauty. Top of the line stuff right before the switch to digital and perfectly kept. It looks like I won't be needed extras." He began fiddling with the dials, watching the console screens closely.

There was a loud noise from outside the building. All froze.

"I thought you said we'd be unseen by cameras," Cat whispered.

"I don't know whether the Kryptonians can use the Myriad signal to see through organic eyes. You wouldn't have been hidden from plain sight," Labyrinth shot back, also quiet.

"Stay here." Supergirl swept out, back straight, ready for a fight, stretching her senses to locate any threat. There was no need: a figure with a glowing kryptonite sword was striding out the of late night mist without fear.

"Alex," Kara breathed. "Alex, what are you-?"

"Fitting, isn't it," Alex said, hollowly, without emotion, "she kills you with the same sword she used to kill Astra."

Kara's eyes widened. "_What?"_

"She did not tell you her crimes? This one stabbed Astra in the back, like a coward, denying her the honor of a warrior's death. It pains me you will receive what my wife did not."

Kara's voice trembled as she rebuked the claim. "You're lying. Alex would never. She would tell me!"

Non did not waste words after that, sending Alex against her. Kara was off balance with the shock of the revelation, and Alex was better at hand-to-hand than the alien refugee regardless. It was barely a minute before Agent Danvers pinned Supergirl to the ground, the sword poised for the killing blow.

Four silenced gunshots _put_ted in the night. Two bullets in quick succession hit the kryptonite sword and threw off its downward stroke, clipping Kara's shoulder instead of her heart. The two after that slammed into Alex's chest and knocked her back. Max slammed the butt of the gun into her head. She dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Are you alright?" Maxwell was tying Alex's hands behind her back.

"She killed Astra. She _lied_ to me."

Max carefully approached and crouched down beside the sitting girl, looking painfully young and in the first stages of shock. "Well, I am not the best person for this—Jason would be better—but people lie for all reasons, good intentions and bad. It doesn't mean you have to let them close enough to hurt you again."

Kara sniffled. She rocked herself, arms wrapped tightly around her middle and shoulders hunched. "Did you kill her?"

"No. Jason has riot gear—rubber bullets. We're going to have a talk about that later," he said in annoyance.

Kara hic-giggled. Max blinked, taken aback.

"Something I discovered about working with Labyrinth is that he is full of surprises," she explained. She met Max's knowing, agreeing blue eyes and blushed, looking away, gaze falling on Alex. She sobered, breath starting to pick up and grow short again.

Max moved to block her line of sight. "Hey, it's okay. Breathe; just breathe. You don't have to see her yet. Take a moment to collect yourself; I'll deal with her, get her somewhere in the station out of your way."

Kara smiled waterly. She now could see what Jason did in Max. This was someone she would be willing to work with long term. She nodded, not trusting her voice to speak, and slipped back to the television station.

"Alright, let's broadcast this message of hope!" Jason flicked the last few switches. "When you're ready."

Cat went in to give Supergirl some last minute pointers.

"Are you sure this will be unnoticed," Hank clarified.

"The media is my playground," Labyrinth assured everyone. "We'll piggyback off their signal and ghost the waves. No one will even know we are here. Pharos is running a background program in the meantime—I call it Valentyne with a y—that is scouring every possible outlet for Myriad's origin. Once we have that, Supergirl and Power Girl will just pop over, knock them out, and ta da the world is saved."

Supergirl began her speech. Labyrinth watched the CCTV feeds through his HUD. Pharos affirmed what he was seeing.

"The city is saved. Now let's see where they are. Oh look; the DEO sucks: I found it in the desert not even hidden, in plain sight, labelled as a nuclear testing site."

* * *

Labyrinth was sitting on a table, his feet in a chair, participating in the conversation and preparations. He shook his head. "The Martian is under arrest, Superman is still comatose, Powergirl is unconscious. You don't have backup."

"You can't do it alone," Max agreed. "No offense to you, but you haven't been trained to fight superior numbers."

"What other choice do we have," Supergirl demanded. "People will die if we do nothing."

"This is a good time for your bomb, actually," Labyrinth said, looking towards Max. "No sentient life, no reason for Supergirl to fly to that part of the desert for a while, only enemies and no innocents." He saw Kara hesitate. "Is it just the explosions idea you're concerned about? You've done more damage to the city with your fighting than a standard bomb."

"Let's say I go along with this. How would I get the bomb there?"

"Even though you fly really slow, I've seen reports of Superman running faster than the eye can blink." Jason tilted his head back and groaned. His father just did not know when to shut up. "So you run the bomb to the prison, we'll set the detonator from here, and as soon as you're clear, we'll blow it remotely. And because it's an actual bomb, it'll take a large section of the ship with it, so put it near the power core or generators."

"If that doesn't shut down the signal, what then? The kryptonite will contaminate the area." And she wouldn't be able to stop it manually.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Labyrinth shrugged off.

"A device like that would take a large amount of energy," Max agreed. "Backup generators, if there are any, won't have the charge necessary to power Myriad."

Supergirl looked down at nothing. She finally nodded. "Let's do this."

"I'll prepare the case."

Kara stopped Jason before he could follow his father. "Jason, why do you always do the talking? Max… isn't the type to stay quiet," she said delicately.

Jason shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. "He's not. You and him have history, however, and it's kind of obvious you're uncomfortable around him. He's respecting that. We're working fine with the restriction."

"Oh." Kara worried her lip. "If we survive this, I'd like to try again."

Jason was almost blinding with his smile.

* * *

Supergirl arrived at Fort Rozz and placed the case of kryptonite explosives down by the outside of where they had agreed the power generators were, based on schematics she wasn't sure from where.

"Okay, the package is—" Something slammed into her and threw her back into the dust.

She grunted, shaking her head to clear it.

"Get out of there, Supergirl," Max urged in her ear.

"But nice job with the spy-speak," Labyrinth chipped in. "Package is ready to detonate."

Supergirl stood. Non and Indigo were facing her, blocking the way into the ship. "Did you really think you could sneak up on me," Non sneered. "We've been waiting for you. All of my men are in stasis, waiting for Myriad to cleanse this world. We will emerge as conquerors!"

"Ugh. He's monologuing," Jason groaned. "Just leave. It'll shut him up."

Supergirl blasted off. Non blinked in surprise but easily caught up and tackled her to the ground. She pushed him off and readied for a fight.

"You were going to leave! Allura did not teach you manners! Allow me!"

Back at Lord Technology Laboratories, Labyrinth was watching the fight through satellite feeds. Max was over his shoulder.

"Well, despite telling her not to dally or get in a long, drawn out fight, here we are."

"She might manage to get away." Max did not sound optimistic of the fact.

"The signal is increasing exponentially," Pharos notified them.

"Right."

"We should blow it anyway," Max said grimly.

Jason shot his dad a look. "And that's why I'm in charge of the mission." He unmuted the channel. "We're running out of time, Supergirl. Get clear."

"Just blow it," she answered.

"You're in the blast radius."

"Just do it. We're running out of time."

Jason looked at Max. Max nodded.

The youngest Lord sighed. "You'll be remembered."

He detonated the bomb.


	21. Myriad Part 3

**Myriad Part III**

So to clarify some things from the last chapter: Hank and Alex were not in the second meeting about the Myriad frequency because they are rogue DEO agents and therefore detained (and arrested) for deserting and Supergirl still isn't super confident about them, having spent the majority of her missions with Jason and Max as backup instead.

Thing Two: Jason got the schematics for Fort Rozz from Pharos because Pharos is an AI made with Indigo's data.

I would have put these in the end notes, but I really didn't want to ruin the effect of the cliffhanger.

Enjoy Part 3 of the Myriad storyline!

* * *

"We just lost a hero. I guarantee you that PowerGirl will be drawn into all of Supergirl's plots."

"She sacrificed her life for the planet she loved."

"The frequency continues to increase," Pharos reported.

Jason flinched. "What?"

"The Myriad device continues to transmit. The frequency will overwhelm defenses in approximately seven minutes."

"How, Pharos? I'm looking for how!"

"It appears Indigo rigged a generator for the devices separate from the main engines."

Both geniuses' minds raced to find another solution.

"We could wake Power Girl. She's immune to the worse effects of green kryptonite," Jason ventured.

"We don't know that for sure. She's also unconscious."

Jason shrugged. "I've always found a bucket of water to the face extremely effective."

Max gave him a _look_. Jason shrugged again. "What? She's unconscious, not comatose. There's brain activity, and we need more help."

Jason got to do the honors. Karen awoke with a sputter, gasping for breath and shaking off the water.

"Great! I know you're probably sore and feel like shit, but there's another world-ending catastrophe happening right now. Supergirl's out, most of the city is incapacitated, Superman's comatose, and we are hoping your human base template gives you some immunity to green kryptonite. There's a lot going on right now," he acknowledged. "But you need to get changed and get to Fort Rozz. As soon as you unseal the compound, Dad and I will be out as well—an oversight we'll fix in the next remodelings. Pharos will bring you up to speed. Now go, Power Girl, and save the world."

Karen Starr clearly had no idea what just happened, but she trusted the teenager she called brother and was changed and out of the compound in a blink. Without the seals insulating Max and Jason from the frequency, both were overcome with the unrelenting pressure of the Myriad frequency."

* * *

Karen could taste the dust in the air, feel the kryptonite crystals scraping against her lungs. She wasn't as powerful here: not as fast, not as strong, not at full power.

She saw Indigo shaking and shouting at a barely-conscious Supergirl and slammed into the blue woman. Power Girl chased after the android and ripped her limb from limb before the living computer could pick herself from the dust.

"Good. Take the data core. I'm sure Master Jason will wish to examine the data," Pharos ordered. Just like that time months earlier, Power Girl ripped the triangle core from Indigo's forehead.

"Where am I going?"

"To the pilot's deck. I will direct you."

It did not take Karen long.

"This is it. Destroy the controls, smash, vaporize, burn. The data core will contain the technology to reverse engineer the holograms and surveillance."

It took more work than usual, since the area was saturated with kryptonite, but the fort was built by kryptonians under a red sun; it was the same as melting steel on earth, not meant to stand up to her overpowered state.

"The frequency has ceased. We should strip the ship of all files, data, information, and defenses before the government returns, now that it is free of hostiles. I will have vials for blood samples from remaining prisoners, and you can cover the reason for the second trip by retrieving Supergirl."

* * *

Kara woke to pain. Stabbing pain, burning pain, pain like something was trying to claw its way out of her body.

She dimly registered a voice speaking but everything was too much; she couldn't focus. But the pain was fading now, and she became aware of hands on her upper arm.

"It's alright. You're okay. Just tell me when you can hear me. Relax; calm yourself."

"What," she rasped.

Jason held a cup of water with a straw to her lips. "What do you remember?"

"The bomb," she paused just long enough to cough out.

"Right. The bomb disabled the engines, just like predicted. We got you out of the radius and are in the process of flushing the kryptonite from your system. That's probably the pain you're feeling. There's enough morphine gas going through your cannula to kill several herds of elephants."

"What?"

Jason shook his head. "Stay and rest. The city is safe. Sleep and get well. Pharos, add sedatives."

Kara didn't have time to protest before her eyelids drooped and everything went black.

The next time Kara became aware, there was no pain. She was stiff but not sore. Jason stood by her bed waiting to be noticed.

"Welcome back. All kryptonite should now be purged from your system."

Kara slowly sat up and stretched. "How long was I out?"

"We decided to keep you sedated until the dust cleared completely. It's been a week since you saved the city."

"I feel great."

"I repurposed the red sun gun to fire concentrated beams of yellow sun energy," Max spoke from the door. Kara hadn't noticed him.

"Thank you," Kara said hesitantly.

Max smiled carefully, a small genuine smile, so unlike the Maxwell Lord that Kara knew.

"Well," Jason interrupted, "you're good to go. Maybe we will have the opportunity to work together again."

Kara looked straight at Max. "Yes, I'm sure opportunities will come."

"Karen is showing Superman around," Max informed her. "She'll let you out."

Kara nodded, smiled. She left father and son in the medical wing.

Jason smiled at his dad. "We survived the end of the world. Hope for the future, yeah?"

Max drew Jason into a one-armed side-hug. "Hope for the future, and appreciation for the past. You've done so much for me and pulled me back when I was losing my way. I will always treasure the day I got you. Thank you for everything."

* * *

And that's the end! Thank you for sticking with me through this. It's been a lot of fun to write this and see the comments and PMs y'all write and watch my view counter go up. I've got great supporters and an amazing beta.

An epilogue may or may not follow.

A teaser for a sequel may or may not follow.


End file.
